Mako Mutations
by Zimithrus1
Summary: The day started with Cloud taking on a mission and it ended with him comatose from a severe case of Mako addiction. However, this amount of exposure is high and dangerous, even to SOLDIER. It is known simply as 'Mako Mutations' and attacks the genetic code of a person. Only few have been known to survive the process and when they do, Shin-Ra's science team gets involved. CxZ Pair.
1. I Am Cloud

_Oooh! Lookie what we have here! That's right, the new and improved Mako Mutations is out and ready for you guys to read! I figured out how to finally work with it! I'm not able to back up though, I have to start it with the mission, but I'll make it longer and add more stuff, so not all is lost, hehe! Anyways, I'll let you guys have at it! Hope you enjoy it! :)_

_Ah, just to let you know, this chapter has a bit of everything, and when I say that, I mean it's got a lemon in there ;) Oh yeah, in the first chapter? What am I thinkin'? Well, just a head up for you guys! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~XChapter 1: I Am CloudX~_

A mission. It must be an important one if Shin-Ra decided to send more than three full units of infantrymen. Currently, units three, seven, eight, nine, thirteen, and fifteen were all gathered in the large training room on floor forty eight, right below the SOLDIER floor in fact. Some commanders were passing out rations for the lower ranked cadets. Among the rations were vials of potions and ethers. There was also extra ammo and some standard cereal bars, all packed in to a small sea bag.

No one knew exactly how long this mission would take, but if cereal bars were issued in the rations, it had to be for at least a day or so. Cloud's sky blue eyes scanned the crowd of commanders and grunts. All in all, the combined total of one hundred and two people were all stuffed in this room. Even if the training floor was big enough to easily fit them all, they were all huddled up close together anyway. The blonde was nervous. This was one of his first major missions.

Until now, the blonde would rigorously train with his unit -He had been placed into unit thirteen- and go on minor missions that hardly even left the steel walls of Midgar. But now they were being shipped to Mideel, which was a ten hour trip, mind you. Cloud was not looking forward to this trip. For the first four hours of transportation, they would be driving in military cars and trucks. Then once they reached that stretch of ocean splitting this continent from the Mideel continent, they would go by boat for the last six hours.

The cadet did NOT like cars, boats or planes. He was surprised he could actually keep composure in a train. If only they could just take a train, he'd be okay. Well, there would be one perk about the journey there. He'd be able to share a private room on the boat with a SOLDIER First class. But not just any ole' First class. He'd be sharing it with his mentor, and significant other, Zack Fair. The two had been going steady for about two months now, and were as close as could be.

Relationships like theirs weren't uncommon, nor were they frowned upon. The people within Shin-Ra was very accepting of who you are and where you came from. It didn't matter to them, and that was great. To be honest, Cloud didn't even have that much trouble with bullies, there were a few, but he had friends to help back him up. In fact, some of his friends were going on this mission with him. If only he could find them among the riffraff...

"Alright you all, listen up! It's briefing time!" A higher-up shouted over the ruckus of the unit. All eyes were upon the commander in his red muffler. He stood near the front of the doors where the groups would soon be exiting to board the vehicles parked in front of Shin-Ra. The whole room fell into silence and all eyes were on him.

"You all must be thinking that this is a pretty dangerous mission to be sending all of you select few to Mideel. Well, you're absolutely right. This is a very dangerous mission. Be careless, and you could die. You all are assisting four first classes in the retrieval of an item extreme importance. What it is, I don't even know, but be on your guard." The higher-up jumped at the unit.

Cloud was listening intently to every word spoken. He needed to do well on this mission. It was his first major one, and not only that, it was his first one where he would be working alongside Zack. He needed to prove that the ravenette had properly trained him and that he could do this. The First Class had been talking about seeing the little blonde in action ever since they heard about the mission. He couldn't let Zack down, not with those eyes of his.

"Squad thirteen, you leave first, the other units will follow behind when you are safely boarded on the trucks." The commander spoke up from the chatter of the other units. He moved out of the way of the door, and allowed the nineteen people in said unit to leave the room.

Cloud was one of the last ones to leave the large room, and he followed behind his fellow comrades at an even stride, making sure he had his bag containing his rations and extra clothes strapped securely to his back. There was a soft murmur of voices from in front of the blonde, and most of them were hyped for this dangerous mission. The little trooper swallowed a thick lump on his throat. All of a sudden, he was starting to get nervous, even though they wouldn't arrive in Mideel for at least another ten hours. Butterflies rose to flutter around in the blonde's stomach, and they swarmed in his throat, making it even harder to swallow.

"Yo Azure-Eyes, you okay?" A voice spoke up, appearing right beside Cloud on his left side. The blonde turned his head in that direction, he knew who the voice belonged too. A small nervous smile crept onto his face.

"Yeah, Shae, I'm alright. Just a little nervous is all." He responded. Those butterflies suddenly hit ten fold and seemed to flutter into his mouth at this point. He felt near queasy and he didn't like it, especially since they were about to board the vehicles outside.

The young teen next to Cloud was known as Shaedon Lancastor, but he preferred to be called 'Shae'. The trooper of equal rank was about an inch shorter than the blonde he was standing next to, not to mention a year younger. While Cloud was seventeen, Shae was sixteen. He had these silver eyes, tinted ice blue around his pupil. His hair was blonde at the roots, but he had black tips and black highlights evenly blended and mixed in. But his most outstanding feature was his smile.

His teeth looked too big and jagged to be considered human. If he wasn't happy-go-lucky and bubbly like he was, his creepy smile would be increased for sure. He had a standard issue sea bag with him, just like the blonde, but his seemed to be fuller. Probably because the younger teen always carried huge handfuls of junk food and candy with him at all times.

"You look like you're going to puke, Azure-Eyes." Shae spoke up, his eerie grin making a cameo appearance. The younger teen often called Cloud by 'Azure-Eyes', rather than his name. The older blonde never minded it, and actually thought the little nickname was cool.

"I certainly hope not..." Cloud grumbled, remembering how sick he got in a car, or any form of transportation it seemed. He really hoped he'd grow out of this silly sickness one of these days.

Soon, the small group found themselves outside the Shin-Ra building. Morning was beginning to creep over the horizon as a big red ball to set the morning sky ablaze. The sky was composed of very bright colors, purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows streaked across the bleak canvas to paint it in a breathtaking array. The clouds above were thin and dotted in the sky, lightly brush stroked by the marvelous morning colors. The air was crisp and fresh, yet tinted in the slightest glaze of Mako.

Green substances shooting up from each numbered reactor casted a sickly glow as the pale green ascended into the sky to join the mix of morning hues. Cloud could see the large trucks parked just a bit further down the stretch of concrete that served as a small walkway. His unit was the first to gather inside, so they'd be able to sit in the seats, rather than just pile up in the aisles and sit on the floor. The blonde picked on closest to the open back of the large truck. This way if he needed to expel his breakfast, he could do so.

The butterflies turned into churning pangs and growls, tearing at his stomach and throat without mercy. Shae had sat down beside him and gave him a friendly pat on the back, telling him to think about something else, like kittens or creamy yogurt. At the words 'creamy yogurt', Cloud thought he'd loose his breakfast right then and there. The thought of food never helped and always made it worse. After that, the younger trooper decided to keep his mouth shut to avoid upsetting his friend's stomach even more.

Once the other units were all situated in each truck, they were ready to get going. Some commanders stayed behind, and just decided to tap the side of the truck to signal that they could start moving. The motors started up with sputters and grunts, but soon accelerated smoothly and let the vehicle pick up a steady speed. As soon as the vehicle hit that first bump, Cloud knew this was not going to be a very fun journey...

~~0-0- [VII] -0-0~~

By the time the trucks had arrived at a small port town -The town was called Tradeport- The time was twelve o' clock, the vehicles had ran an hour late. Not to mention Cloud had successfully regurgitated everything he had managed to hold down that morning about four times. He did not feel at his best right now. As soon as the trucks came to a stop, the blonde threw himself from its' steely clutches and nearly embraced the solid, unmoving ground below him.

He was given time to catch his breath and gather his senses, seeing as how the SOLDIER's going on this mission had yet to arrive. After his stomach had stopped churning, Cloud had done a bit of small chat with Shae and a bit of stretching from that cramped car ride. They only had to wait fifteen minutes until the nicer cars bringing in the SOLDIER's arrived. The first one to emerge from a vehicle was none other than General Sephiroth. Unlike the rest of the SOLDIER's, or others for that matter, the silverette did not have a sea bag with him for the long journey ahead.

Most of the troopers, Cloud included, had felt intimidated by his presence alone. Even though the young blonde had spoken with the silver haired General more than once, due to being in a relationship with Zack, he was still nervous around the older silverette. The next to arrive were a few Second classes that the blonde did not know, so he paid no mind to them, but did pay his respects when they passed by. Most of the troopers and commanders had already gone to board the large ship that would take them to Mideel.

Cloud decided to stay out and wait for Zack, that way they could walk to the boat together. Plus, he wasn't ready to face more transportation yet. The boat was nice, it was like a cruise ship for the long voyage ahead. Each trooper was put in pairs of two to three and given a room to share. SOLDIER's got their own, unless they invited someone to join them or were in a relationship with someone then they got a free pass to the luxury rooms. There was dining and even a few activities to partake in. Shin-Ra wanted them to be relaxed before diving headfirst into a tough mission, which didn't happen very often. The luxury boat ride, I mean.

Finally, the last SOLDIER's to arrive showed up. Angeal and Zack appeared at the same time, talking and laughing with one another, well, the younger ravenette was the one doing the laughing. Each of them had their own bag prepped for the journey. Zack's bag was stuffed a bit thicker than Angeal's, who looked to take only the minimal.

A smile wiggled its' way onto Cloud's face at the sight of the ravenette. Somehow, even after the months they had been together, just seeing the older teen made the little blonde smile for no reason. A Third class or two quickly walked by, wanting to hurry up and get on the ship already.

The trooper saw the two ravenette's waving and saying their bye's for now. Angeal walked ahead, giving a silent nod at Cloud as he passed, a small smile was on his face. The blonde returned the nod, knowing if he saluted, the older man would just say 'At ease, you don't have to do that all the time, Strife'. For some reason, the older man never minded if the others saluted to him or not.

Zack approached the smaller blonde, greeting him with a soft and carefree smile. In the past three days the blonde had gone without seeing the vivacious teenager, he looked to be doing fine. His scent was tinted slightly of sweet peas and lavender, more than likely signaling he had enough time to take a shower before departing from Shin-Ra.

"Hey there, Chocobo." The ravenette sweetly greeted, following up with a quick kiss on the blonde's head.

"h-Hey, there are still people out here..." Cloud muttered, looking left and right as a feverish blush overcame his face. It was obvious that the younger teen was embarrassed from the display of affection.

"Oh, let 'em look." Zack spoke softly, nearly whispering to where the blonde, and only the blonde, could hear. His warm breath puffed against the infantryman's ear, followed by a sensual little chuckle, echoing deeply from his throat. The action earned him a sharp breath from the other, as well as relentless chills shooting through the blonde's body.

"That's not even fair." Cloud mumbled, his blue eyes half lidded form the previous action only seconds ago. The blush on his face only deepened and become more of a red color, instead of a pale pink.

"Tough." Zack playfully said, gripping the blonde's chin in his right hand as he gave him a mischievous little grin. Oh that look, it always caused the little trooper's knees to buckle and his breath to hitch in his chest.

The ravenette dropped the cadet's chin and instead just held his hand, gently pulling on it to lead the way to the docks. The blonde followed beside him at an even pace, still blushing from being in plain sight and holding hands. The morning air began to get a little warmer the higher the sun rose into the beautiful blue sky. The town of Tradeport was small, very hard to see on the world map. Most of the shops and houses were located right by the great big docks the city housed. It wasn't very big in terms up shipment compared to Junon, but the people got by on what they could.

The two strode up towards the docks, where the large ship was waiting. Just seeing the monstrous vessel made Cloud's stomach begin to churn. He really didn't want to get on another moving object, but he had no choice. As the two approached, the larger the humungous boat got, making the blonde pale instantly and stop walking, standing still. There was a small tug on his arm from Zack, who had been unaware that Cloud had stopped walking, and had been jerked back ever so slightly.

"Hey, what's up, Buttercup?" The Second Class asked, turning on his heel to look at the little blonde behind him.

Cloud shook his head silently, hanging his head down as he did so. He could already feel the nausea creeping up to his throat. He knew as soon as that massive ship started moving, he'd start hurling. But by this point, he had nothing left to expel, his breakfast was already long gone. His stomach argued and churned, stating otherwise. He could barely feel his body beginning to tremble, another tell-tale sign of a bad time yet to come.

"I don't wanna go... I'm going to get sick again." Cloud mumbled, still hanging his head down.

The Second class took one small step forward, and subconsciously, the blonde took a step back, knowing what was about to unfurl. It was either suck it up and hold it down, or it was Zack's way. Either way would not end pretty for the little trooper. If only he had no motion sickness. Before his mind could even comprehend what happened, the ravenette had already swooped the blonde up into his arms, ready to carry him into the ship himself.

"C'mon babe, either way we have to go. You can either make a fool of yourself doing it, or you can suck it up and not look like a baby." Zack truthfully spoke. It sounded a bit harsh, but deep down, the ravenette really didn't like to see the little blonde so upset, stomach and emotion wise.

Deciding not to cause a scene, the blonde just mutely nodded and buried his head into the older teen's shoulder, taking in a deep breath to calm his racing nerves and churning stomach. The second class then began to make his way towards the ship, making his way up the ramp to board the boat. Cloud refused to lift his head up, and had even closed his eyes shut tight. The only thing that kept him from breaking away and running away, was Zack's broad and warm arms that held him tight. Not to mention his scent of sweet peas that he adored oh so much.

After a few more minutes of hearing the ravenette talk, and feeling him walk, the two arrived outside their room. Cloud finally brought his head up and opened his eyes when they had stopped walking. Luckily, the door had already been cracked open, so Zack was able to open up the door with his foot, not having to put the blonde down. He closed it shut with a swift kick when the two had entered the lavish room.

There was a large queen sized bed, decorated in silken sheets of cobalt blue. It was centered right below a single large bay window, complete with blue velvet curtains draping on either side of the warm glass. The floor below them was carpeted in a deep maroon, to contrast the deep blue furniture scattered throughout the room.

There were elegant Victorian styled lights on either side of the bed, bringing a soothing light to the place like the sun could do. Across the bed on the right side was a lavish bathroom that would most likely be explored afterwards. The walls were colored in this comforting pale tan color. The hues of the room were all disoriented and uncoordinated, but somehow it all fit together nicely.

Zack made his way over to the bed, then finally decided to let Cloud down. The blonde's face had been drained of all color, and was replaced with a cold pale that could rival the dead. His arms were coiled over his stomach tightly, and his body hunched forward ever so slightly, digging his arms into his abdominal region. His frail body had begun to tremble by this point, clear signs signaling he might be loosing his breakfast again. If there was anything left anyway...

"I'll be right back, I'm going to go get you a trashcan, just in case." The Second class spoke, placing a tender kiss to the cadet's clammy cheek.

"Uh-huh..." The blonde grunted, nodding his head along with. His shaking increased just a little bit more, and a few queasy groans from his stomach erupted through his body, making this repressed squelching sound.

Before heading towards the bathroom, Zack took Cloud's sea bag from his shoulders, as well as his own, and placed them by the foot of the bed for now. He then entered the large bathroom just a few feet away, and pulled out a little trashcan sitting idly by the bathtub. He picked it up and brought it back out to the main room.

He gingerly sat the metal bin right beside the trooper's feet, then carefully sat himself down on the bed, scootching around to sit behind the smaller teen. He wrapped his broad arms around the blonde's neck loosely, yet in a comforting manner. He rested his head on the smaller shoulder in front of him. The ravenette received a small hum of appreciation and affection in return from the little trooper.

Within seconds from that, the ship began to slowly lurch forward. Everyone was boarded, and now the long ride would commence. This only made Cloud groan in a sickly fashion and press his face against Zack's, seeking comfort from his own nausia that was tearing up at him on this inside. The ravenette moved his arms from the blonde's neck, and instead hugged the little trooper by the waist, then nuzzling his head closer to the crook of the trooper's neck.

"I really hate boat rides..." Cloud complained weakly, his face grimacing ever so slightly as he spoke.

The large carrier ship picked up a little more speed, pulling out of the docks of Tradeport by this point. The little waves from the shallow ocean began to lap at the front of the ship eagerly. The tiniest rocking movements began, gently rocking the ship in a lulling motion, like a mother rocking her baby to sleep after a long day. But to some, this only caused a sick suffering, and a hellish experience on the choppy seeming waters. The blonde's stomach only began to growl louder in protest, the bigger the rocking motions got.

"I know it'll be hard, but try not to think about it." Zack tenderly spoke up, still remaining close to his part time student, and full time significant other.

" 'Try not to think about it', he says." Cloud mocked, rolling his eyes as he did so.

In return, the ravenette nipped at the lobe of the blonde's ear, causing the smaller framed teen to yelp quietly from the quick bite. A deep chuckle rose from the Second class, using that little sensual tone of his. His hot breath ghosted across the other's clammy flesh, warming it up and giving it chills as well. The loose hold around his waist tightened a bit, giving a small squeeze.

"Are you mocking me, Strife?" Zack asked, still using that deep and gruff voice of his, remaining close to the little blonde's ear. A dark hum of amusement followed after his question.

"And if I am, Sir?" Cloud asked back, yet his voice was wispy and light as he spoke, and his sky blue eyes were half lidded, a devious and mischievous grin spreading across his pale face, in which as slowly beginning to regain its' former color.

"Hmm...Getting a bit rebellious are we? Well, there are ways to fix that." The ravenette dourly spoke, his right hand reaching up and tugging the cadet's muffler down to expose his neck, while his left hand fell from his waist to rest against his thigh.

Warm breath was puffed against the delicate flesh, resulting in a wave of chills and a bit of warm perspiration. Soft lips connected with the heated skin, softly kissing in a slow and passionate manner. His actions earned him an airy sigh from the younger teen in front of him. With his other hand, he gently squeezed the blonde's thigh, brushing his fingers across the blue fabric of the uniform pants. The kisses on the neck soon became little bites and knicks, gently bruising the delicate skin in the heated moment.

That familiar airy sigh became more of a moan by this point, and the little cadet squirmed a bit as a part of him he'd rather not mention began to tighten. When the bites became hard enough to draw the slightest amount of blood, the ravenette brushed his tounge across the wounds to softly nurse and caress the injured flesh. The blonde had tilted his head back, so much more of his neck was exposed for the Second class to do with as he wished.

He wasted no time in defiling the added skin with bites and bruises, while the hand currently resting against the cadet's thigh traveled elsewhere, towards the tightening. Upon seizing the clothed area within his own gloved hands, a moan soon became a near choked squeal, and the body before him tensed further, his hips arching further into the other's grip. Any rationalized thinking had been long dissolved, and was replaced with the burning passion with a near animalistic instinct that could be ignited in even the timidest of souls.

With his other hand, the Second class moved from the cadet's muffler, to the zipper of his pants, a dark smile spreading across his face as he worked at the fabric. The small blonde wriggled slightly, assisting in the motions the ravenette was causing, allowing the older teen enough hand room to slip by the undone waist of the blue colored pants. The slightest ghost of the older teen's gloved fingers across the sensitive and swelling area caused the blonde to further arch his hips forward, closing his eyes as delight began to fester in his blood and burn behind his eyes and seer in red through his cheeks.

His breaths had become quicker and heavier, and more sweat was beginning to glaze the cadet's soft porcelain skin. With a quick flick of the wrist, that same hand moved past the waist of the pants, and slipped through the elastic band just beneath the pants and above the skin. Within seconds, pleasure seemed to erupt throughout the room in those brief moments of contact. Any thinking at all had been washed away from the wave of this kind of affection only two could make.

Time seemed to crawl slower the longer the moment lasted, and lust fueled the two teenagers to reach an impossible seeming euphoria that only this kind of contact and unity could bring. Relief came just as quick as the lust, and ended likewise in a transparent, near invisible, color. The other worked himself to relieve the tension he had caused himself, feeling the same relief as the blonde in only a few brief and fleeting moments.

Heavy breaths from both scraped at the still air surrounding them, and sweat trailed down each body, gently beginning to wet the hairs on the back of their necks. Evidence of the moments prior took on the shape of bite marks, blood, and bruises coating the neck of the blonde cadet. As time crawled on as they recovered, their senses slowly began to return to them, as well as their thoughts and sanity earlier claimed by contact and lust.

"So...Are you still motion sick?" Zack asked with breaths laced heavily with exhaustion.

"What motion sickness?" Cloud playfully responded, as if he never suffered from the constant sickness of transportation. He was equally as out of breath as his significant lover behind him, and it was painstakingly obvious.

"How does a hot shower sound?" The Second class asked, finally moving away from the blonde to stretch some of his muscles that had fallen asleep.

"Fantastic!" The cadet exclaimed with hardly a voice. A soft smile spread across his exertion flushed face as he stood up from the bed, not even bothering to fix his uniform that had been tampered with, to say the least.

The ravenette also stood up from the bed, but before making his way to the bathroom, he reached over the bed and grabbed his and Cloud's sea bag. With that, they both left the main room and headed into the bathroom, carrying the bags with them. They contained an extra change of clothes.

The small room was decorated just as nice as the other. The same Victorian styled lights hung from the walls, and the shower wall was decorated with smooth cobblestones. A cotton white curtain hung beside the bathtub, waiting to be put to use. The sink was decorated in a marvelous blue granet, and the faucet was colored as if it was gold. This place seemed more like a cruise ship than a carrier.

Zack reached across the bathtub and began to crank the faucet on the left a few times in a clockwise direction. He let out a cry of surprise when dousing cold water rained down above his head. He staggered back a few steps and shook his head, making the cold droplets of water fling in multiple directions. Cloud giggled at the sight and backed up a step or two when the ravenette flung the water from his hair in random directions.

"Aww, what's wrong Puppy? Didn't like deh ice cowd bathy?" The blonde cooed, using baby talk as if the Second class really had been a puppy.

"Hey, you be quiet, Chocobo!" Zack playfully shot back. With a mischievous grin, he stuck his hand under the water, then went to go fling it at the blonde. As he took a step to increase his range of water flicking, his boot lost traction on a small puddle and it sent him crashing to the ground with a startled yelp.

"Ahh, not onwy is deh wittle puppy soaking wet, he went and fell down." Cloud continued to tease, giggling as he did so.

"You little~!" Zack cried, jumping up and throwing himself at the blonde, laughing as he did so. He then put the cadet into a loose headlock under the cold water from the showerhead. The younger teen squirmed and cried out, shouting that the water was cold and that the ravenette was an asshole.

After five more minutes of them roughhousing in the bathroom, the two had saturated their uniforms, as well as the bathroom floor. Both of them forgetting that they even needed a shower in their little game of 'Payback'. The ravenette finally found the right knob for the hot water, and let the bathroom warm up due to the steam that emanated from the showerhead after only a few seconds. The plumbing in this ship worked quick!

The two removed their saturated clothes and stepped into the shower, play fighting over who'd get to stand closer to the warm spray of the water from above. The two stood close together under the water for a minute or two, before deciding to wash themselves off. There was soap flinging, tears from soap getting in the eye, a few kisses, purposely dropping a soap bar and implying something inappropriate, as well as a bit of cuddling under warm water. They ended up staying in there until they jumped out of the shower when the water suddenly turned cold and sprayed down their backs like liquid ice.

The two dried off with a few fluffy white towels before changing into their spare clothes, while leaving their uniforms out to dry. They still had at least five more hours til' they arrived on the coast of Mideel. The spare clothes had been nothing fancy, and more suited for indoor comfort. Cloud had changed into an off white t-shirt and black silk shorts, while Zack had changed into a dark grey tank top and black sweat pants. The two left the steamy bathroom and into the coolness of the main room. They both sat down on the bed. Well, the blonde cadet sat down, while the raven haired Second class flopped down onto the bed with a big lofty sigh.

"I'm feelin' a little tired." Zack spoke, rubbing his eyes with his hands as a small yawn drawled out of his mouth.

He rolled over onto his stomach, then crawled his way over to the head of the bed. He pushed two pillows up against the headrest into a hospital style, then snuggled his face in the warmth of the cotton pillowcase. He peaked one eye out to look at Cloud. The blonde was looking at him, a soft smile engrained on his delicate face. Even from this distance, the ravenette could see the dark bruises coating the younger teen's neck on the right side, and a bit on the left. It almost made him blush, seeing what he did to the little blonde.

"What?" The cadet asked kindly, a soft pink blush radiating from his cheeks ever so softly.

"Come take a nap with me." Zack said with a smirk. His voice was a bit muffled, since half of his face was smothered in the comfort of the pillow he was resting against. He held his left arm out and up, signaling that the blonde could snuggle up against him.

Cloud smirked, his smile becoming a little wider, and his blush increased in intensity. He quietly crawled over towards the ravenette, then laid down, pressing his body against the older teen's. The Second Class' arm instantly curled around the cadet's body, pulling him just a little closer. He could feel the blonde's heart beating in his chest, and the ravenette felt it against his own. There was a warmth that swarmed over the smaller male, engulfing the two in a sweet heat that gently lulled them to sleep in each others arms, without a need for a blanket.

-0-0- [VII] -0-0-

"Rosie! Come back! Mom said we can't go into the mountains this far!" A young eight year old Cloud cried, running after his little six year old sister.

The two had gone out to play, but the younger strawberry blonde girl had adventured a little too far up the mountains of Nebelheim. Their mother and father told them to never come here, that it was dangerous. Mean monsters like Nebel wolves and Dark Dragons lived up here, and they were two humans trespassing in their territory. But that wasn't all.

Up in this altitude also lay Mako Pools. They usually didn't cause any harm, but his little sister always wanted to touch it and see how it felt, and that as bad. Even touching a pure Mako Pool had some nasty side effects. You could get burned, poisoned, or even worse, you could fall into a coma and die!

"C'mon Big Brother! It'll be fun!" Rosie exclaimed, laughing as she continued to run up the mountain side. Cloud continued to try and catch up to his energetic little sister. He slipped and stumbled a couple of times, lost his footing, or flat out tripped. Rosie was able to ascend the mountain as if she knew exactly where to go. Knowing he wouldn't be able to change her mind about returning to the village, the blonde boy decided to say: 'Will you at least slow down and wait for me?'.

At that, Rosie stopped running ahead and allowed her brother to catch up. When she saw him covered in dirt, she just laughed and snorted a bit. She had not even one speck of dirt on her little red dress, or on her face unlike Cloud.

"Well, it's about time you decided to have some fun! Come on! Let's go exploring!" She squealed, grabbing her big brother's hand and tugging gently.

The two siblings began to walk together, continuing to scale the mountainside. The blonde boy looked behind him to see that Nebelheim was beginning to shrink in size the further up they went. He knew they were past the point of no return. Glancing at his wrist, he checked the time on his chocobo printed wristwatch. The time was six thirty. They were supposed to be home an hour and a half ago. Surely their mother or father had started to look for them.

Even though they'd be in a world of hurt when she found them, Cloud wanted to turn around and go back home. He didn't like it up here. It was scary. But Rosie continued to skip up the winding mountain path without fear or a care in the world. His little sister had always been the brave one, the one who could plunge head first into danger and laugh the whole way through. The eight year old wished he could be as brave as his little sister.

Rosie suddenly stopped in her tracks and glanced over to the right. Cloud bumped into her, but then did the same when he saw her looking elsewhere than the path. In the distance, a pure mint green color slowly swirled up and bubbled into the sky, growing darker by the minute. One glance and the two already knew what it was. A pure Mako Pool. Rosie's eyes instantly lit up like a firework, and with a burst of speed, ran as fast as she could towards it.

An unfortunate Cloud was pulled along with, shouting at his sister to stop and that they should turn around. The strawberry blonde girl would hear no word of objection and continued to run towards the glowing green light. By the time they reached the pool, the sun had completely vanished, and it was starting to get cold and windy. The two were so high up in the mountain that it was getting a little harder to breathe. It took a bit of a toll on Cloud, but Rosie looked unphased.

She let go of her big brother's hand and approached a little closer to the pool, just a few feet away from the edge. She looked down to see the beautiful green liquid rise like ribbons up towards the sky, while embedded deep within its crater home, it looked so warm and inviting. The little six year old turned to look at her eight year old brother, a bright light of joy swirling behind her light cobalt blue eyes. Rosie.

"Don't." Cloud warned, his voice becoming more stern.

He needed to get the point across that they shouldn't be here, how they were in danger, and how their mother was probably worried sick and looking for them this very minute. But The little girl didn't listen, but instead held her hand out towards her big brother.

"Come on, let's go swimming! We don't have to stay in long, I promise!" She pleaded with those sugar coated eyes of hers. It was so hard to say no to those innocent eyes, but Cloud needed to keep his resolve. This wasn't safe! He needed to keep his baby sister safe, just like he promised on the day of her birth!

"No, Rosie." The older blonde said, keeping his voice stern and even. No more Mr. Nice Guy. This was for his sister's own good.

"C'mon bubba! can't I at least soak my feet or somethin'?" She pleaded again, throwing out her bottom lip into an undeniable pout.

"I said no, and I meant it! Come on, we need to go home. We'll be in deep trouble if we don't get back home now." Cloud spoke, never loosing his resolve. But he did soften his eyes and held his hand out, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. She needed to get away from the edge.

Rosie pouted further, and crossed her arms over her chest, obviously upset now. "Okay, fine." She grumbled, beginning to walk towards her big brother.

Before she could take any more than three steps, the ground began to crack under her feet. She stopped, her eyes widening in fear as she looked at the ground below her. Before anything else could happen, the ground suddenly gave way, sending Rosie tumbling down into the Mako Pool.

"ROSIE!" Cloud screamed, running towards the newly formed edge the broken ground had created. He hunched down onto his hands and knees, seeing his little sister barely able to stay above the surface.

She could swim, but not very well, and not very long. She was loudly whimpering, and tears were forming in the corners of her eyes. She slapped her hands around in the Mako, trying to stay afloat in the thick green substance. Then all of a sudden, she started screaming loudly, tears no cascading down her cheeks rapidly.

"It hurts! Help me Big Brother! It hurts!" She screamed, desperately slapping at the water to try and get to the edge where Cloud was at, holding his hands out for her to take.

"Come on Rosie! Just swim over here and I'll save you!" The older blonde exclaimed, becoming as frightened as his little sister.

The strawberry blonde girl's heard went under the bright green liquid, and only her hands were above the surface. The eight year old stretched out his arms to try and grab her hands, but he was just too far away to reach her. Her head popped back up, and she was screaming, crying, and sputtering Mako out of her mouth.

"Cloud!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

With that final cry, her legs gave out, and the pain was suddenly too much to bear. She went under, no longer fighting to stay afloat. Without thinking, Cloud dove into the pool. There was searing pain burning into his flesh, and his nerves screamed in agony. His heart began to pump in double time, adrenaline pumping throughout his blood. It wasn't until he went under the surface that he remembered he couldn't swim. Regardless, he did his best to shake of the pain, and he dove deeper into the pool.

It was getting darker the further he went, but he could see Rosie, see her frightened cobalt blue eyes burning through his. She couldn't hold her breath any longer and began to choke on the Mako. As she breathed it in, she only coughed up blood from under the water. The thick crimson liquid danced around in the Mako, swirling upwards, and engulfing Cloud. In fright, he screamed, forgetting for only a moment that he too was underwater in this substance. When he looked back down, Rosie was sucked up into the darkness, and only her blood made it to him.

It was too late...She was gone.

The eight year old let out another scream, loosing all of his air. He knew he was going to suffer the same fate as his precious baby sister. Suddenly loosing all of his strength and determination, he stopped fighting to get back to the surface. He began to let the Mako pull him down in the darkness where he would soon join his sister. He began to take in a breath of the green substance, but before he could take a big gulp of it, strong arms wrapped around his body. He could feel the rush of the liquid going down as his body was pulled up. Who was saving him?

Suddenly, they broke through the surface, the pressure leaving from his head and allowing him to weakly cough up the little bit he had managed to swallow. There was a sharp and high pitched ringing in his ears, and his vision was slightly blurred, and everything was enclosed in a bright white light. There were a few muffled voices in the distance, as if he was still underwater and trying to listen to people talk.

"Ariyanna, take Cloud. I'll see if I can find Rosie." A husky voice spoke as he was handed off to someone else.

"Okay, be safe, Seigfroid." A female voice responded back.

Ariyanna? Wait, that was his mother's name! And Seigfroid, that was his father's name! They found them! The ringing in his ears had lessened some, but it was still there. The white light swarming in his eyes had died away by this point, and he could see his mother's worried face looking into his.

"Oh, Cloud. My sweet child..." Ariyanna whimpered, her warm hands went and caressed his cold cheeks.

He could see tears slip from her eyes. He was going to tell her not to cry, but found he couldn't even move his mouth to speak. He could hardly even blink. What did that Mako do to him? The sound of liquid sloshing around let the blonde boy know that his father had returned from the Mako Pool. He was able to see the look in his eyes. It was sorrow. In his arms, Rosie's limp body hung lifelessly. They had been too late to save their little girl.

"Come on, let's get back to the village, before we loose Cloud as well." Seigfroid said with a heavy heart. He was the one who had to carry Rosie back to town. He had to carry his dead daughter.

Upon arriving back at the village, they were greeted with gasps and muttered prayers. Praying for the Goddess to watch over Roselina Strife in the Lifestream, and to pray that she didn't take Cloud Strife away from his parents. That same night, Rosie was buried in the backyard. A few roses were plucked from the flower garden to decorate her grave, which was two pieces of firewood tied together to make a cross.

For the rest of the night, and many other nights to come, the eight year old's parents constantly watched over him, taking turns sleeping to make sure he would be okay through the night. They had to feed him, give him baths, all while he could only lay there and watch them worry and fret that he would die as well. Cloud had been in comatose for three weeks before finally recovering. He vowed to never go near Mako Pools, or that substance, ever again.

That was when Cloud woke up from his nap crying...  
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_A/N: Annnnd that's where I'm stopping this chapter! Whew, it was so long! *wipes sweat from forehead* Man, this chapter is, bipolar or something. One minute it's all happy, then there's sex, then there's death! Maybe I'M just the bipolar one? o0o Anyway, as you can see from the original, I nearly flat out changed Everything! I added more stuff and made my writing even better! Hooray! :D_

_So, let me knew what you guys thought of the chappie, and feel free to ask questions or whatnot, I'll gladly get back with you :p For all you new readers, please fave and follow for more madness n' stuff!_

_Toodles! :) _  
_~Zimithrus1_


	2. Stuck On Loop

_Wowzers! Already got chappie number two up and ready to go! Now that I've found out how to tamper with this, I'm really getting into this story! :D Huzzah! I hope you guys enjoyed the new and improved chapter one as much as I enjoyed typing it up!_  
_After seven thousand words and I was debating on typing more! Anywho,_  
_let's get started on chappie two! :)  
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_ ~XChapter 2: Stuck on LoopX~_

Before Cloud could cry another tear from his irritated blue eyes, Zack was already hovering over him. There was a panicked look on his face as worry began to swarm behind his eyes of Mako blue. His larger hand gently brushed across the blonde's left cheek, stroking it lovingly with his thumb to try and calm him down. The small trooper sniffed back more tears before anymore could fall. His face was flushed red due to his sadness, caused by his dream.

"Hey, what's wrong, Angel? The Second class asked tenderly, still continuing to rub the blonde's cheek delicately.

"I just...Had a bad dream." The cadet decided to say, sniffing once more.

He took notice that the ravenette had already changed his clothes back into his uniform. It looked as if he didn't take any time to make sure it fit properly, for a few pieces of the shirt were still untucked, and the pauldrons that usually accompanied the standard outfit were not present. He looked to have been interrupted while changing. Cloud's eyes rolled over to the right, where he noticed that the sun was beginning to set and paint the world in orange and yellow. He also saw some tropical trees in the nearby distance, and a few wooden houses. They had arrived at Mideel Coast.

When the blonde made move to sit up, Zack pulled away from him and gave him the room to sit up properly. He still remained close to the younger teenager, making no move to finish getting ready. Most of the panic had left from the ravenette, but a lingering trace of worry still swam behind those blue eyes of his. The trooper just offered up a small smile, silently saying that he would be alright now. If the ravenette was still here to look out for him he'd always be alright.

"When did we arrive?" Cloud asked, getting up from the large bed. He began to stretch upon standing up all the way.

"About ten minutes ago. Units three and eight have already left to scour the area by the beach. Your unit and I will be heading in deeper into the forest to patrol." Zack explained, looking down to see his shirt was still untucked. With a few quick movements, the rest of the shirt had been properly tucked into the pants.

"When do we leave the ship?" The blonde inquired as he headed to the bathroom to get his uniform, which was dry by this point.

"In precisely five minutes." The ravenette responded, following the trooper into the bathroom to assemble the rest of his uniform. He grabbed his pauldrons from the bathroom sink, and used the leather straps to secure them to his shoulders.

It was then that Cloud began to scurry. He quickly tossed his spare clothes off and grabbed the shirt to his uniform. With a bit of struggling and nearly pulling his head through the sleeve instead of the neck, he was able to slip the shirt on and tug at the bottoms to get all the creases out of the fabric. Next, he grabbed the pants and carefully began to put his right leg through. He stumbled a few times, occasionally loosing balance and making the ravenette hurry to catch him, but he managed successful without falling over at all.

Then he threw his muffler over his head and adjusted it properly. By this time, Zack had just finished stuffing the bottom of his pants into his boots and was ready for action. His electric blue eyes looked over at Cloud, who was now adjusting the suspenders across his shoulders, then his pauldrons following right after. Once the top half of his outfit had been completed, he grabbed his steel knee guards and brown leg straps, getting to work on getting those attached. Seriously, the infantry uniform was so complicating.

"Alright! Done!" The blonde exclaimed in exasperation, his face turned a bit pink due to his frustration.

"You look so cute when you're stressed." The ravenette said with a sly chuckle, complimented with a big grin. He stepped up behind the blonde and wrapped his arms around the small waist in front of him, nuzzling his face against the trooper's neck for a brief moment.

"Oh shut up, you." Cloud playfully retorted, softly smiling back at the affection given to him.

"C'mon blondie, let's get a wiggle on." Zack responded, letting the cadet go as he eased his way out of the bathroom.

"A wiggle?" The cadet repeated, a bit confused and a bit of bland disbelief at what his lover just said.

The blonde's blunt repetion went unheard from the ravenette as he grabbed his standard issued sword from the front door of the ship cabin. There was this little quirky smile on his face as he holstered the sword to his back, using the strong magnets on the back of his suspenders. He turned around to look behind him, his eyes gleaming in a pleasent lighting. Without words, the cadet knew he was hyped for the mission. More importantly, he was excited to see the blonde in action on a real mission for the first time.

Making sure he had all of his equipment, namely his rifle and nightstick, Cloud was also ready to go. He left out the cabin door before Zack, and the Second class shut the door behind them. With that, they began to leave the interior of the ship and make their way to the docks. They both walked closely to each other, watching all the others hurry about or goof off with friends as they made ith way to Mideel Coast.

When the two made it outside, the world was becoming darker, slowly and steadily. Most of the yellow from earlier had faded to orange, and that orange had melded into a deep red, as if the sky was ablaze in some beautiful kind of fire. A few clouds that hung overhead were painted an indigo purple with light pink underbellies. The sun was now resting its bottom half against the horizon line, signaling that night would soon be upon them in a mere few hours.

Zack scanned the hordes of cadets down at the base of the forest, looking for the unit he would be in charge of, which happened to be Cloud's unit. Upon spotting the group of eighteen, he began to lead the way off the boat and towards the clustered group. The blonde followed behind him closely, not wanting to get seperated from him in this large crowd of infantrymen.

The coastal climate was warm and humid, and the air was thick and hot. It was stuffy outside and a bit hard to breathe. The cadet was not used to this kind of tropical weather, unlike Zack, who had lived in this kind of climate. The blonde lived in cold and wintery weather.

The Second class and final cadet made it to where their group was standing. The ravenette immediately turned on his superior side like a switch, his posture a bit more straight as he walked, and his face a little bit firmer and more set than usual. Cloud quickly scurried to his place within the group, standing right next to Shaedon, who waved at him and smiled that eerie grin of his.

"Alright you guys, listen up! This isn't a walk in the park. The monsters here are nasty and if you are unprepared, they will eat you alive. Keep this in mind as you venture through the forest. Do I make myself clear?" Zack spoke, his tone was firm and more orderly than his usual playful voice.

"Sir, yes sir!" The cadets shouted in time, standing at attention as they gave a sharp salute; Cloud as well.

"Alright, let me brief you on the item we're looking for. Two weeks ago, one of our top scientists went AWOL, taking very important documents and samples on the matter of the SOLDIER program and some experiments along with him. We have been ordered to retrieve the samples and paperwork before they fall into the wrong hands. I have also been informed that there are Sky Gunners, Stive Machines, Hellhounds, Tycoons, Scissor Chitins, and Malboros. Not only that, but some of the locals had witnessed sights of Wyerds, Jabberwocks, and even a King Behemoth. Be on your guard." The ravenette warned.

The cadets responded back with the standard 'Sir, yes sir' and another sharp salute. Shaedon nudged Cloud gently with his elbow. When the blonde looked over at his dual-hair colored friend, the boy had his errie smile popping from behind his thin and bow shaped lips. He was obviously excited to fight against some tough monsters. He noticed that they younger teen had grown especially hyped when the Jabberwock was brought up.

Without another word, Zack led the average sized group into the dense forest. They knew it would be thicker the further in they went. None of the other infantrymen were letting their fear or nervousness show, and Shaedon was beginning to bounce up and down as he walked.

With all that energy, you think he'd scare all the monsters away with his pep alone. Cloud picked up the pace a little more, and made sure his rifle was close to his hands, so he could pull it out and fire at a moments notice.

There was a small rustling sound coming from some tall grass a few feet due northwest of their current position. The group and Second class stopped in their tracks, slowly reaching for their weapons. When a harmless Rilfsack skittered out from behind the grass and into a tree to rest, the group stopped reaching for their weapons and continued onward, being cautious with every step they took. The further they got, the thicker the forest got. As time crawled on, the sun finally set beyond the horizon, and an early night was slowly beginning to unfurl.

A few noises from owls and crickets were heard, but ignored none the less. So far, no big monsters had been seen or fought with. The only thing the group had encountered were a few Rilfsacks, skittish Cactuars, and Needle Kisses that let the group go by without any problems. The long billed birds had only nestled down in the treetops and went to sleep. In this forest, as long as you left the wildlife alone, the wildlife left you alone.

"This is so boring." A trooper a few feet away from Cloud grunted, shifting his rifle around on his back restlessly. He was itching for a good fight, and so far, none had been found.

"It's not about wither we fight or not, it's about getting the mission done. Fighting will only slow us down." Zack spoke up from the front of the pack as he continued to lead everyone through the ever growing forest.

"Yeah Chess! It's not about the fighting!" Another voice spoke up, clearly mocking the cadet named Chess.

"Same goes for you Archer!" Another voice spoke up, teasing the boy that had previously mocked Chess.

Cloud could see Zack shake his head and quietly groan. He didn't blame the older teen one bit, putting up with this bunch was stressful to say the least. There had been some days when the blonde just wanted to gut them all, except Shaedon. During the husky laughter and joking around, the group failed to hear the rustle of dry grass, and deep breaths evenly camouflaged into the environment. When the group got a little bit closer, the creature sprang from the cover of the tall grass and thick trees, loudly roaring.

Immediately, the cadets and Second class refocused on the space between them and the creature. Standing before them was none other than a baby Jabberwock, mewling and growling as the fur on its back began to stand on end.

Jabberwocks were in the same bestiary class as Behemoths, but they were far more faster and intelligent than their distant relatives. Baby Jabbers weren't dangerous at all, but it was the adolescents and adults that could pack a heavier punch than a full grown Behemoth. In the 'Big Beast' world, Jabberwocks were the kings and at the top of the food chain to boot.

"Pfft! It's just a baby!" The boy named Chess snorted, beginning to dryly laugh. He stepped out of line and approached the two foot tall Jabber with solid white fur and black spots, just like a leaperd.

"Cadet Pierce! Return to your post! Zack barked, unsheathing his sword.

He really didn't want to hurt the baby creature. One, they were harmless and docile unless provoked or trespassing in their territory. Two, if the baby was around, then so were the parents, and those weren't as timid matured as the young ones. If any other kind of living being stepped within ten feet of a baby, the adults would immediatly charge onto the scene and dismember the violator.

"Relax, Sir. I can handle this." Chess cockily responded. He stopped just a foot or two away from the snarling baby Jabber.

"I mean it, Pierce! Get back in line!" Zack growled, loosing all of his patience in that one minute. Cloud gulped. He never wanted to get on the ravenette's bad side.

Chess ignored his superior officer's demands, and instead, pulled his foot back and kicked the baby Jabberwock right in the face. The tiny creature hurdled through the air before crashing into a tree. It fell to the ground with a sickening thud, unmoving, silent and still. The baby Jabber was dead. The deep copper red haired trooper smirked, then dusted his hands off like it was nothing.

"Do you realize what you've done!?" The ravenette cried, his eyes hardened in anger by this point. The cadet didn't have to kill the innocent baby Jabber. They could have gone around it or something. After all, they were the ones who came into Their territory, uninvited I might add.

Almost right after, a louder and deeper growl could be heard in the distance, as well as rushing footsteps thudding against the ground. They were in for it now. Within a matter of seconds, an adult male Jabberwock lunged from behind the trees, paws and claws out and ready to strike.

Daddy was here.

The large beast snorted at Chess, it's beady yellow eyes glaring daggers into the troopers eyes. It glanced over to the right to see its baby lying on the ground. With a loud whimper, the adult Jabberwocky rushed towards its fallen child. It used it's snout to gently nudge the still body. The whimpering grew frantic, and the beast now began to slap at the body with one of its massive paws. After a few more moments of loud whimpers and smacking around a lifeless body, the beast came to the conclusion that its baby was dead.

With eyes as blood-lusting as a serial killer, it narrowed into Chess, somehow knowing he was the reason its baby was dead. With a loud roar and a massive growl, the Jabberwock bared it's thick and long fangs from behind his curled and snarling snout. Its claws dug deep into the ground, and the beast threw its head back with a mighty monstrous cry.

"Pierce...Back in line...Now." Zack slowly ordered, making sure to slowly draw his weapon. The other cadets began to do the same, knowing where this was going to end.

As soon as Chess began to scamper back to the squad, the Jabberwock began to run at him, snarling and growling loudly. Thick saliva was dripping from its tounge and teeth as its eyes never lost sight of its main target. The Second class lunged at the adult, with a mighty battle cry, he lifted his sword above his head and swung down, nicking the great beast's defined jawline. The Jabber jumped back, growling and snarling still. It looked only slightly phased from the wound, but it shook his head and quickly disregarded the pain.

"All of you! Attack!" Zack ordered to the squad behind him.

The troopers wasted no time in drawing their rifles and firing at the large beast that stood at seven feet even on all fours. Small rounds were fired off in the monsters direction. A few grazed it, some struck, and most of them missed. Even with the pain of bullets coursing through its body, it shook off the pain, swiping at the masses and roaring at them.

"Keep your distance!" The ravenette demanded, making sure none of the squad members would get injured. He'd do all the hand to hand combat against the beast.

A few cadets ignored the request and rushed at the beast with their nightsticks, aiding Zack on the front lines, while most of the troopers backed them up with bullets. Cloud stood off to the side, unsure of what to do. Should he attack the Jabber head on? Or provide a shield of bullets like most of the others? The blonde didn't know what to do right now!

"C'mon Cloud! Let's help Lieutenant Fair!" Shaedon spoke over the gunfire, appearing right next to the blonde's side. He had a light grasp on Cloud's right arm, and for once, his smile didn't look so creepy. Probably because his teeth weren't showing.

"Right! Let's go, Shae!" The older cadet said, putting on his game face and finding some courage locked deep down inside. Pumping his fists by his side, a look of determination etched his way into a small smirk on his face.

Wasting no more time, He and Shaedon pulled out their nightsticks, readying them in their dominant hand. Cloud's weapon in his right, and Shaedon's in his left. With a cry of effort, the two rushed towards the front lines, pushing past Zack and the others to land a blow to the Jabberwocky's eyes. The mighty monster let out a shrill screech and staggered back, shaking it's head back and forth quickly.

"Strife! Lancastor! Good job!" The ravenette praised, a smirk of pride beginning to grow on his face. His student was beginning to pull through. Now to see what he could accomplish with all those months of training under his belt.

The Jabber recovered from the blow to its eyes, and now seemed to be in more of a fury than ever. It'd show these people the true meaning of fear. He growled loudly, then began to run at the front lines. The troopers and single Second class readied for a strike, but at the last possible second, the beast jumped over the small brave group of seven and landed on half of the back lines, digging its claws into their tender flesh, easily able to shred their flimsy uniforms.

The cadets in the back row began to cry out and shoot wildly at the beast. Their aim became poor, and each shot missed the beast by a mile. The Jabber swiped its massive claws at the others, knocking them over and sending them flying. The troopers that had been landed on were all littered with holes and bleeding out, slowly dying and suffocating in their own blood.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Zack shouted, trying to get the Jabberwocky's attention. He needed to get it away from the remaining cadets.

The beast turned its head around quickly, growling in anger at the insult. It spun around and charged at the ravenette, who barely had enough time to barrel roll out of the way.

As the Second class recovered from the roll, the Jabber was already on his heels once more, and not being able to react fast enough, the beast as able to slice Zack deeply on his right side with its talon like claws. The eighteen year old let out a cry of pain and staggered, his free hand holding his side which as beginning to bleed perfusively.

"Zack!" Cloud exclaimed, his face draining of all color and becoming as pale as the virgin moon.

"I'm fine, Cloud. Don't worry about me. Show me what you can do!" The ravenette encouraged, brushing off his own wound like it was nothing.

The blonde gnashed his teeth together, gritting them tightly as his eyes hardened in anger. "Son of a bitch!" He screamed, rushing at the Jabberwocky with pure hate festering behind his eyes, running rampad through his blood like a disease.

With all the strength he could muster, he jammed the nightstick into's the beasts' eye, deeply. The creature screeched and fling its head around, but the blonde only dug the weapon in deeper, not letting up until he knew the eye was going to be pushed back deep inside it's skull, back out through the sockets where the optic nerve slid through. When the Jabber finally pulled away and flung Cloud back, blood began to squirt out of the hole where its eye used to be. It was now lodged deep within its own head.

The remaining numbers of eleven began to attack and shoot at the beast, making it slowly began to cower back. When it glanced down to the ground, it only saw its dead baby, and its rage returned ten fold. With now lightning speed and strength, the Jabber was able to lunge back at the cadets firing at it, and easily swiped its massive claws at them, not stopping until they were hacked to bits or decapitated. It kept going, until only the Brave Seven remained. As it looked back at them, its eyes were stone cold., rivaling that of the darkest skies.

This Jabberwocky would not rest until its child's death was avenged. If only Chess hadn't killed it, they wouldn't be in this mess, with countless bodies and blood littering the ground in a sickening display. Zack was still slouched as he stood, his bleeding wound never letting up once.

The Jabber saw him as easy prey. With a mighty roar, he lunged at the ravenette. He scrunched his eyes shut tight, he had tried to move, but it had caused too much pain. This wouldn't end good unless he could find a way to move.

When the beast lunged, its teeth bared, the ravenette waited for the stinging pain. But it never came. Slowly opening his eyes, panic began to race through his veins and make him bleed faster. Cloud had just jumped in the way, and was now taking a large bite into the left shoulder. He was grunting in pain, trying to push the beast away from his significant other. He wouldn't allow this abomination to hurt the Second class any more.

"Cloud!" Shaedon and Zack cried at the same time.

The youngest teen was able to leap into action and smack the Jabberwocky in the snout with his nightstick. A few others joined in to save their comrade and superior officer, smaking the big beast around as well. The Jabber finally let go and jumped back, snarling and growling at them as it did so. Cloud's right hand immediately squeezed his injured left shoulder, and he grit his teeth through the pain, still making choked grunting noises.

The beast finally had enough of these damned humans trespassing in its territory and killing its baby. It was time to stop playing and get serious. With a mighty howl, the creature charged at four of the cadets that had broken away from Shaedon, Cloud, and Zack. It cornered the four against the trees, and with its claws, sliced them all in half. Tears slipped out of Cloud's eyes, Zack hung his head down while scoffing harshly to himself, and Shaedon gritted his teeth together, becoming utterly pissed.

The Jabberwocky turned away from the bloody massacre against the tree trunks and padded it's way up to the remaining three, the blood around it's eye now clotting and drying up, staining the yellow bead into a fushia purple with dots of crimson red. Before any of the three could react, the beast smacked Shaedon into a tree, knocking the trooper out cold. It then snorted in his general direction.

The Jabber finally knocked down the number of humans to two, excluding the new unconscious one. After all this fighting, the beast was starting to get hungry, and it wanted a fresh meal that wouldn't put up much of a fight.

Delicately sniffing at the air, the creature searched for a familiar scent of a place it often used to make its squirmish prey easily fall limp. When his nose locked onto the scent, his powerful jaws nipped at Cloud, maxilla and mandible clamped down in the blonde's chest and back, sinking in an inch or so to maintain a strong grip. The blonde let out a cry of pain as blood bubbled up from his mouth. With quick reflexes, the little cadet was swooped up into the air, clutched in the jaws of the monster.

Zack's eyes were wide the whole time. This was no time to let pain keep him immobile, not with his precious blonde in the jawls of the beast. As the Jabberwocky began to walk off, the ravenette began to limp his way after, this Gaiadamned pain could not slow him down! The Jabber ignored the fact that the near incapacitated Second class was following it. It wasn't like the black haired man would be able to do anything in his condition anyway. The blonde cadet in his mouth was groaning, barely able to hang on to his fleeting consciousness. He was already getting limp? Well that would be no fun!

After a few more quick steps, the beast arrived at the place to make even the wildest of prey weak and lifeless. A Mako Pool. A deep one at that. Cloud's eyes widened in fright. Not this, anything but this! The fear of drowning in the thick green liquid came back to him all at once.

He remembered Rosie, the searing pain throughout his body, the pain of drowning, and the fear coursing through his skull. Before he could think any more thoughts, he was dropped into the liquid, and the searing pain began immediately as he began to sink to the darkness down below, too weak to try and break the surface.

Zack had seen the Jabber drop the blonde into the Mako Pool, then howl in victory as it hopped up and down, excited for its soon to be feast. Not under his watch! The ravenette needed to kill the Jabberywocky before rescuing the blonde, otherwise, they'd both be on the menu. As adrenaline pumped through his body, and even as the blood began to start clogging and causing immense pain, the Second class was able to lift his sword like nothing, and bring it down onto the beast's back paw.

The creature let out a screech and whirled around, anger burning behind its one good eye. How had the weak human conjured up enough strength to slice it? No matter, this mortal would soon be mince meat. But unfortunatly for the Jabberwocky, Zack didn't plan on dying just yet.

With a battle cry of effort, he began to hack and slash at the beast, somehow anticipating the beast's next move, and how it would strike. Cloud's life was on the line, and he wasn't going to let the light of his life die away in the eternal darkness only death could bring.

He stabbed the Jabber in the legs, the shoulders, the paws, face, head, and back. With one final blow, he jabbed the sword into its underbelly and sliced it open, and the intestines came tumbling out and coating the ground in bodily fluids, organs, and gallons of blood.

The Jabberwock finally fell over and died, just like how its baby did a mere thirty minutes ago. Not stalling any longer, Zack dove into the Mako Pool, energy still festering within his body. Since the Second class had been showered in the substance a few times before, the liquid did not affect him.

In fact, some of the Mako turned into ribbon like strands, swirling around his scratch wounds and taking the pain and fresh blood away. As relief flooded into the ravenette, more determination and willpower, not to mention strength, were boosted into near euphoric levels. He scoured the depths of the green pool, searching for the blonde in any direction he could look. Not finding him, he knew he had to dive deeper. He had to hurry, the blonde had been under for over five minutes. All this pure and unconcintraited Mako was only going to do the blonde harm.

It got darker the further down Zack went, and it was getting harder to see, especially in the stillness of the night. But after a few more moments, he saw the cadet. He was floating face down in the Mako, unconscious by this point. Swimming faster, the Second class reached Cloud's weak looking body and wrapped an arm around his waist.

He quickly began to swim up, needing to get them to the surface. It felt as if the surface of the liquid was only getting father away the faster he swam. He kicked his legs harder, trying to go faster. After what felt like an eon, he finally broke through, pulling Cloud up with him.

Zack paddled over to the edge of the pool, lifting the blonde out and onto the solid ground. He pulled himself out next, then hovered over Cloud's still body. he was colder than ice. Gently resting his ear against the cadet's chest, he soon found out that the trooper had quit breathing, and his heart was not beating. Becoming frantic, the ravenette began to perform CPR, pumping at his chest firmly. Gaia knows how long he did that alone.

"C'mon, Cloudy. Stop being stubborn! Don't you make me do mouth-to-mouth on you!" Zack exclaimed, as if that was more of a threat than something that could actually bring the blonde back. A few more times, he pumped away on the cadet's chest. He still got no response or a heartbeat.

"Fine, but you asked for it!" The ravenette cried, beginning to preform mouth-to-mouth, as well as the standard CPR method. By this point, there were tears swelling in his eyes. He was scared.

After another minute, Cloud finally came back, coughing and sputtering. The Second class sighed in sweet relief, then held the small cadet close to him, tightly as well. He nuzzled his face in the crook of the blonde's neck, like he always did. He actually felt a hot tear of two squeeze out of his eye. He was so relieved he was able to bring his precious ray of sunshine back to him. But he noticed the trooper's coughs were quiet and shallow. Pulling away from the younger teen, ne noticed his eyes were radiating with that eerie sky blue that only Mako could do.

Worry and fear came racing back into Zack's heart at that moment. Gaia please don't let it be true. Don't let Cloud have Mako Poisoning. Hoisting the blonde up into his arms, he stood up, then needed to hurry back to the rendezvous site where the others should be waiting at this time. The moon had ascended high into the sky. So the time was probably eight at night. Eight was when they were to meet back at the clearing, documents and samples in hand or not.

Passing the area where many had died to defend themselves against the Jabberwocky, Shaedon was there, looking around for someone aimlessly, but in his hands, he had a can of soda.

When the heck did he get that? That was not important at the moment though. Cloud's health, and life, were still hanging by just a thread that was ready to snap in any given moment. The younger teen saw the two approach, then pass by. He knew he had to follow them without a word.

As the three passed by the fallen bodies, they bowed their heads in respect, honoring their sacrifices. The three began to go back the way they came no more than an hour or two ago, except this time, they would meet in a clearing within the fields, that way a medical chopper or two could land and take away the injured. After walking over fallen tree limbs and heavy underbrush, the two cadets and one SOLDIER made it to the clearing. Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis had already arrived with their units. When they heard footsteps coming from the south, the turned their heads to see what it was.

When Angeal saw his student -Which hadn't been training under him as of late- covered in dried blood, with an unconscious Cloud in his arms, and a bruised up Shaedon, questions began to rack around in the first class' head. He hurriedly approached the three, eyes widening ever so slightly. Sephiroth's eyes did not widen, but they narrowed in near confusion. He had never been good at expressing much concern. Genesis just remained silent, taking his eyes off the three to look elsewhere.

"Zack? What on Gaia happened?" Angeal quickly asked, looking the three over. He didn't even need to ask where the others were. They had perished. It was obvious.

"Our unit encountered an adult Jabberwocky and suffered greatly. All of our squad members were felled except these two. Lancastor here is fine, and can return to the ship and get standard care in the infirmary there. Cloud is another story though..." Zack began to explain. When talking bout the blonde to his three friends, he did not use the proper military code of calling lower ranks by last name, especially this cadet that he had grown to love over the months.

"The Jabberwocky threw him into a deep Mako Pool, I would say it was about ten feet deep, maybe eleven. He was down there for a total of seven minutes I would guess. He was already unconscious when I pulled him out. I was able to bring him back after four minutes of CPR, and I suspect he has...Mako poisoning. The ravenette spoke, beginning to choke up at the mention of the Mako poisoning.

Angeal rested his hand on top of Zack's head, giving a light ruffle before speaking. "Don't worry. The medical chopper should be here in a few minutes." He reassured.

By this time, Shaedon had silently excused himself to return to the ship. He said he'd see his little blonde friend and everyone else later, then departed without another word. But then something peculiar happened. Sephiroth spoke up, grabbing the attention of the group.

"How long was Cloud down there?" The silverette asked, his tone dead serious.

"Seven minutes." Zack responded, seeming to hold the Mako soaked blonde a little tighter in his arms.

"Just as I thought...He has Mako Poisoning for a fact. But sadly, it's the worst case..." The twenty-two year old grumbled.

"You mean...Level seven addiction?" Genesis spoke up, his milky green eyes now turning their attention to the comatose cadet, then towards Sephiroth.

"No. I'm talking about...Level eight addiction." Was his blunt response.  
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_A/N: Goodness gracious great balls of fire! Chappie two is FINALLY done! M-my poor butt...I think it's been asleep for so long it fell into a coma... T-T Man, what'd ya think of them apples? :D I had so much fun typing this chapter! (Well, my butt didn't...) I bet you it's longer than chapter one! 0o0_

_Well, don't forget to drop a review to tell me what you thought, or any kind of feedback! If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will answer them ;)_

_Alrighty everyone, until the next chappie! And as always..._

_Toodles! :D_  
_~Zimithrus1_


	3. Contamination and Quarintine

_Whoo! Chapter three of our redone Mako Mutations is out and ready for a reading! :D You know, I actually wrote all three of these chapters only a few days after the other, I just haven't gotten around to uploading them ^^; Well, enough up top,_  
_let's see what's simmering down below! Enjoy! :)  
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_ ~XChapter 3: Contamination and Quarantine~_

Zack was more than on edge by this point. The small chopper had arrived no more than three minutes ago, and all five men had crammed their way inside. Cloud was still tightly wrapped up in the ravenette's arms, and was refusing to let him go for anything. The blonde was deathly quiet, and the paleness of his skin rivaled the untouched purity of a fresh virgin snow. Conditions inside the helicopter were cramped at best, most of their knees were bumping into each other, and bodies were nearly sandwiched together.

Not a single soul had uttered a word since Sephiroth had last spoken. It felt almost as if everyone was too afraid to break the deafening silence. It was the kind of quiet that would make your ears ring. Cloud's condition had only gotten worse upon being resuscitated, his breathing had become shallow and slow, and the longer they waited, the colder he became. The trooper could not even blink at this point in time.

The clear night sky had soon become dark and clouded, and on occasion, the chopper bounced in the slight turbulence. There was bound to be a storm coming in from the north. After many more moments of ear ringing silence, the Second class decided this reign of quietness needed to be broken.

"Sephiroth...What did you mean when you said that Cloud had level eight in terms of Mako Addiction? There are only seven, right?" Zack spoke up, pulling his eyes away from the comatose blonde below him for only a moment.

"To the public, yes. To those like myself, the president, and the science department, then no. To the Alpha's, not to mention the medical team, there is one more level of addiction." The silverette began to explain, almost sounding a bit relieved now that this tension hanging dourly in the air had been severed.

"That is?" Zack urged, his gloved grip on his dimming sunshine growing tighter.

"To get a better understanding on how dangerous level eight is, I'll explain the other seven. You see, level one is known as 'Regular Intake.' In which is extremely harmless, even an infant could posses this level and still live. Then there is level two, which is known as 'Small Outbreak.' This is the level that third and second class SOLDIER's are doused with. Only small enough to enhance physical strength and stability. Level three is known as 'Moderate Outbreak.' In which, what we firsts are showered with. Still not toxic or dangerous, but the right amount increases Mental and physical stability. Level four is know as "Small Contamination.' Which is only dangerous when one person has been exposed to say, a Mako Pool, for one minute. It's not too bad and they recover as if it was only a small flu."

Sephiroth paused for a quick breather. When it came to this kind of stuff, it was tiresome and sometimes difficult to explain. Zack had not taken his eyes off the silverette once, as if looking at him would help him retain the information better. Yet as his eyes were distracted, his hands were not. They still gripped at the small blonde securely wrapped in his broad arms.

"Level five is when the side effects become more severe. This level is known as "Moderate contamination.' This happens when exposed to a Mako Pool for three minutes, this is when dangerous side affects take place, such as muscle spasms, and slight comatose. Level six is known as 'Large Contamination.' This happens when exposed to Mako for four minutes. The side effects for six are muscle spasms, a heavier form of comatose, and prolonged recovery rate. They recover in a few weeks, but are weak internally, such as walking, talking, basic motor skills. Level seven is known as 'Quarantine.' Where one is exposed to Mako for five minutes. The sides effects for this causes heavy comatose, prolonged fever and aches, and decresion of motor skills, again, affecting one's ability to walk or talk, and other things necessary to survive."

Genesis and Angeal were silent as the silverette explained, but none the less, they were attentive. Their eyes were focused either at the ground, or out the small helicopter window. The clouds had gotten relatively thicker in the past few minutes, and a low grumble signaled a storm would be upon them soon.

"Level eight, is known as 'Contamination and Quarantine.' This level is the most deadly. This level occurs when one has been exposed to Mako for over six minutes. This causes prolonged comatose, sickness, seizures, high amounts of blood contamination, dangerously high fevers, and mental and physical brain wave decrease. In a way, they become more like sick and helpless premature birthed infants. But that is not even the worst. From what I've read, if they do survive, within a week or two of signs of showing recovery, something terrible happens and they are changed forever. That's all it said, it never went into detail." Sephiroth said, finally finishing his explanation of Mako levels and their side affects.

Zack's grip on Cloud became even tighter by this point. The more he knew, the more he wished he could forget. As his hold tightened, the ravenette noticed there was something peculiar happening with the blonde. Only a few seconds ago, he was colder than ice. Now all of a sudden, he felt like fire itself. His body only continued to heat up like this until the blonde began to heavily sweat, and his breathing became more quick and panicked.

"He's burning up." The Second class said, eyes nearly gluing themselves to the feverish blonde in his arms.

This drew the attention of the others situated across from the Second class, and their eyes settled upon the blonde. His condition was only getting worse as time progressed. It was almost as if the others could hear his internal clock ticking out its final moments. The trooper was immobile as ever, but they could see faint signs of his fingers beginning to twitch, and the sweat covering his body was beginning to glisten and become more visible. His fever had already hit this fast, and no doubt about it, it was severe as well.

"Don't worry. We'll be back in Midgar in about five minutes.' Angeal spoke up, taking it into his hands to calm the ravenette down, which was now beginning to freak out and blubber near nonsense by this point.

"I can't just 'calm down', Angeal!" Zack shouted, great emotion swelling within his voice. The older ravenette could have sworn he saw evidence of future tears nipping behind the Second class' eyes.

The eighteen year old had subconsciously tightened his grip around the blonde even fiercer than before, nearly digging his fingernails into the trooper's skin, past his gloves and the blue fabric of the infantryman uniform. The twitching in Cloud's fingers only intencified, getting to the point where his whole arm was beginning to tremble.

"What were the symptoms again? I think the little cadet is showing another one." Genesis spoke up, noting the rapid twitching in the blonde's arm, seeming to spread throughout his body slowly.

The question was left as a rhetorical one, but the silverette did glance over at Cloud to observe his declining condition. The shaking only continued to get worse, until his entire body began to twitch. In seconds, the blonde was beginning to seize and violently shake and tremble. Fever and seizures happened to be one of the first side effects of level eight addiction. Zack curled his body around the trooper's shaking one, holding him down it seemed. The young ravenette could have sworn he heard insanity knocking at the door of his mind, as well as his heart packing its' bags and getting ready to split, so to speak.

Within the minute, the helicopter finally landed on Shin-Ra's roof, and the blades began to slow down. By this point in time, the rain began to drizzle down to the parched earth below. Al ow grumble of thunder signaled that the storm as nearly right over them. Sephiroth was the first to leave the chopper, followed by Genesis, then Angeal.

Before departing from the copter, Zack tenderly placed a quick kiss on the blonde's scorching hot forehead. He quickly hopped out, then made a beeline straight to the infermery, not even checking to see if the others had followed behind. He thought about using the stairs, but the infirmary was on floor sixty, and that was ten flights of stairs. He would fair better taking the elevator.

So that's what the ravenette did. He went down one flight of stairs, and pushed open the door, quickly dashing to the elevators with an armful of temporarily useless and shaky cadet. He skidded to a stop upon reaching said place, but only grit his teeth and muttered a quick profanity. The elevators were currently out of service. Wasting no more time, he dashed back to the stairwell, bursting through the door, then hurdling himself down the stairs as quick as he could. Cloud's fever only seemed to get worse, even if the shaking wasn't as violent as before.

After five minutes of running down the seemingly endless flights of concrete steps, he arrived at the right floor. He opened up the door, and he was completely out of breath. He was panting heavily and gulping down air as he re-cooperated for only a moment. He was about to take a step forward and ask for help, but was stopped by a nurse he happened to be acquainted with.

Her name was Xzena, and she had choppy black hair that was short in the back, and long in the front. She had a single forest green streak down the left side of her hair, and she had piercing emerald green eyes. She had on her regulated white coat, but a plain black t-shirt underneath, and a red and black plaid skirt. The shirt had been low cut, and if had been any lower, some cleavage would have slipped right out of the fabric.

"What's your hurry, Zack?" She spoke, keeping her humor and sarcasm to herself for now, seeing how worked up the ravenette was.

He was about to speak up, but Sephiroth appeared and beat him to the punch. He said that Cloud had level eight Mako Addiction and needed to be stabilized immediately. The nurse did not ask questions when she heard what was wrong with the feverish blonde in the Second Class' arms. Instead she barked harsh orders at some other nurses by the reception desk and ordered them to get a doctor and a room ready at once. One nurse brought a stretched over, and Xzena told Zack to place Cloud on it so they could take him.

The ravenette was hesitant at first, not wanting to stop holding his significant other just yet, but he knew if he lingered any longer, the precious blonde could die right then and there. With a heavy heart, he layed the incapacitated trooper on the stretcher gently. Almost immediately after the ravenette's broad arms let the smaller male go, the female ravenette quick wheeled the stretcher down a long hallway, before turning right upon reaching the end of the hall. A doctor or two followed after, as well as another nurse for assistance.

Zack was just about to follow, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. When he turned around, all of the others had caught up to him. The others were not as out of breath as he was, nor did they looked as worried. They did, however, look concerned and sincere. Well, Angeal did. Sephiroth looked indifferent as always, and Genesis seemed to find an interest in staring at a painting on the wall, excluding himself from the conversation that would soon unfurl, temporarily of course. Angeal removed his hand from the younger ravenette's shoulder.

"I know you want to rush off and see him, but we still have to report the mission and our findings to the Director." The First class spoke honestly.

"It can't wait?" Zack impatiently snapped, feeling on edge right now. His patience level was near rock bottom. He didn't want to do anything else until he knew Cloud wasn't knocking on death's door at the moment.

"Sadly, no. Besides, you have to tell the Director about the losses the infantry suffered." Sephiroth decided to cut in before Angeal could explain.

Zack looked relatively annoyed by this point, and he was so tensed up and angry at the moment, you could have sworn to see steam pouring out of his ears. His face was even reddened with all the emotions he was currently feeling. He quickly brushed past the others, wanting to get this out of the way already.

"Well? Come on. Let's get this over with!" The ravenette grunted, throwing open the door to the stairwell and disappearing as he ascended the steps.

"Still just like a puppy I see." Genesis mused, following behind said 'puppy' towards the stairwell.

Angeal and Sephiroth also followed along, but they remained silent as they walked. The elevators being broken was a real pain, but none of the men let it show. One could only imagine of having to take the stairs in some kind of emergency from the ground floor, up to floor fifty. Someone would probably ask 'How many floors does this place have?'. But for Zack, the only thing on his mind right now was Cloud. As soon as this mission briefing was done and over with, he'd run straight back to the infirmary to check up on his precious blonde.

The ravenette's heart was hammering in his chest, and anxiety was burning in his body and festering in his blood like a rampid disease. He found his fingers to be twitching in anticipation and fear. He clenched his fists tightly and swallowed hard.

All he could do was hope to the Goddess that his little Chocobo would make it through this...  
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_A/N: And there's chapter three for you guys! :) It's not as long as one or two, but it's a decent amount I suppose. Thanks to all the people that have faved, followed, and reviewed this story! You guys make my day! Oh, and for the part of running up the stairs, ground floor to fifty, that was an Orginal Game reference! :D At the part where you have the option to either barge in through the front doors of Shin-Ra to rescue Aerith, or take the stairs XD I never took the stairs, I did once and hated it!_

_I'll see you all in the next chapter, and as always..._

_Toodles! :)_  
_~Zimithrus1_


	4. Solicitous

_Huzzah! Chapter four of our redone Mako Mutations is out and ready to read! :D I've been addicted to this story since I figured out how to rework it, which is a good and bad thing for me ^^; I update this one more than usual, but that means all my other stories gotta pay the price (Broken crayons, and Mako Eyes to name a few). Anyways, since I liked the word count of chapters one and two better, I'm going to try and make five to six thousand words my quota per chapter :D Well, let's get started then!  
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_ ~XChapter 4: Solicitous~_

Zack was impatiently bouncing on the balls of his feet, an annoyed glower on his face. Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth looked calm and collected beside him as they waited. The four had arrived at Director Lazard's office to report on the mision, but the sandy blonde haired man was nowhere to be found at the moment. The computer was still on, and had yet to go to screensaver mode, so the Director couldn't have been gone for very long.

It was silent, save for the harsh breathing of an impatient Second class, and the soft ticking of an analog clock hanging from the far wall behind the large wooden desk. Other than that, the four remained silent and did not speak with one another. Angeal stood at attention, sharp and straight with his hands behind his back. Sephiroth stood as somewhat attention, having his arms folded comfortably across his chest. Genesis was standing, but not at attention, and he had occupied his time with LOVELESS, softly flipping the pages as he skimmed through the lines. Zack only continued to bounce, and on occasion, sigh in an exasperated manner.

Seconds felt like minutes, while minutes felt like hours. Therefore, it seemed like eons before Lazard finally walked back into his office, via the elevator. He walked past the four and situated himself at his desk, leaning back in his black swivel chair. His blue eyes, masked with a faint glare from his glasses and the room's lighting, looked up at the four standing in front of his desk. Upon glancing at Zack, an amused smile only slid across his face before he spoke up.

"Glad to see you're all here. Did the mission go well?" Lazard said, retaining that same smile on his face as he asked.

"Unit nine, and myself, were able to find a few pages of the requested documents. They were scattered around by the edge of the forest, near the shoreline to be precise." Sephiroth spoke up, stepping out of the once unified line to pull said documents from his tench coat and hand them to the Director.

Lazard took the documents from Shin-Ra's Alpha, then quickly skimmed through the pages to see if they were on order, or how many had been found. He raised his right hand, clothed in a white glove, and adjusted the silver framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose to get a better look at the chicken-scratch on each paper. Most of the documents had been collected, but a few pages appeared to be missing. Thankfully, all of the vital pieces of information had been retrieved. The Director looked up from the documents, placing them to the side for now, then waited to hear who would speak next.

"Genesis, myself, and units three and seven, were able to locate a few of the specified samples. We found these near the edge of the forest, scattered among the shrubs." Angeal spoke up next.

Sephiroth stood back, falling into line again as the older ravenette took stand by Lazard's desk. In his hands was a vial or two of strangely colored liquid, and what appeared to be a container with something moving inside. The Director eyed the lump in the container with arched eyebrows, wondering what it was without a need for words. The vials and container were placed delicately onto the wooden desk, and Lazard further studied the items, then compared them to the documents received from earlier. The lump in the plastic prison shuddered, then moved to a corner in its' home, remaining there. The blonde decided to keep the lid on and move it over to the side where the documents rest.

"Me and unit thirteen scoured the forest, a guy killed a baby Jabber, its' parent came and got mad, killed everyone except two people, and we found nothing, okay bye!" Zack exclaimed in one breath, not giving anyone time to process what he actually said.

The young ravenette then spun on his heel, and nearly began to walk out of the room. The back of his uniform had been seized however, right at the top of the turtleneck, and he was yanked back towards his former place in line. The Second class looked up with apprehensive and impatient eyes at the man who had dragged him back. His eyes met with Angeal's and he was greeted with a stern glare and silence. Lazard however, had an amused smile plastered on his pale face. No matter what the situation, the young Second class had always been impudent and antsy to get out of these meetings.

"Alright. Unit thirteen and I headed into the forest. We scoured the area for hours and found nothing, but we did have a scarce encounter with a baby Jabberwocky. One of the unit members, guy by the name of Chess Pierce, kicked it into a tree and killed it. Its' parent found out and slaughtered the whole unit, save for myself and two cadets. The first cadet was fine, but the second is in critical condition down in the infirmary." Zack spoke, adding more detail.

"I see. Since most of our items of retrieval have been found, I suppose you are all dismissed. Especially you, Fair. You look as if you're going to explode." Lazard said with a little laugh at the end.

Knowing it was okay to scurry, The Second class immediately spun on his heel and hurried out the door, not even bothering to wait up for anyone else. The Director had noted that the young ravenette seemed a bit more hyped to get out of here than usual. Angeal, seeing the look in the blonde's eyes, figured he should explain his student's erratic behavior.

"My apologies, Sir. But Zack's solicitous side is showing through. The cadet that was brought here in critical condition happens to be the little infantryman that the Puppy is going steady with at the moment." The older ravenette explained. He waited for the Director to respond before he took his leave as well.

This time, Zack had picked an elevator that was in working order and boarded it, pressing the button that would take him to floor sixty. As the steel doors closed at the small box began to ascend, the young ravenette found himself frantically pacing back and forth, glancing up at the floor numbers displayed in a digital box every five seconds. Questions racked around in his head, causing him to get a small headache in his sinuses. Was Cloud alright? Did he die? Happened to be the two major ones floating around right now.

As soon as the little bell dinged and the doors opened up, the Second class flung himself from the little box and onto the correct floor. His heart was hammering in his chest and nervous butterflies had risen from his stomach, to his throat. he tried to take a deep breath to qualm his anxiousness, but it did him no good. His fingers had begun to shake and twitch. Before proceeding onward, he clenched his gloved hands into fists and took another deep breath to get himself prepared.

"Zack?" A sudden voice spoke up. Xzena had snuck up beside him without him noticing. The preparation that the ravenette had managed to gather all but left him now.

"Xzen', it's just you. Tell me, is Cloud alright?" The Second class quickly asked, making haste with his question. He wanted to hear how he was right now, no idling.

The female ravenette's eyes went sullen, and a sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Whatever news she had to share, it wasn't going to be good. Her hands clasped together in front of her, and she nervously began to wring her fingers out, looking over to the side of the male ravenette, rather than head on. She tried to figure out how to word this and keep the blow as soft as possible.

"Well...We got him stabilized, but he's not looking too well, I'm afraid to say." She spoke, finally letting her forest green eyes glance into worried electric blue eyes.

Zack swallowed a thick lump in his throat, and his fists clenched even tighter. He kept silent for a moment, knowing if he spoke now, his voice would only crack and break. What did the nurse mean by 'not too well'? If he had been stabilized, you think he would be doing at least a little better than before. Had his condition gotten worse since the helicopter flight back here? More than likely, that was going to be the case. Xzena began to walk down a long stretch of hall, and signaled the ravenette to follow beside her. They must be going to Cloud's room.

"Most of his blood had been thoroughly contaminated with large quantities of Mako. In order to stabilize him, we had to make him bleed it out. So, we removed the contaminated blood and we have him hooked up to some transfusions right now. He's going to be on them for awhile." Xzena explained as the two kept walking down the hall. She took a breath before continuing her explanation.

"We got him to stop seizing as well, but I'm afraid with all of the Mako contamination, he's been put under heavy comatose. As of right now, he can't even blink. If a level nine existed, he would be just a few ounces of pollution away from it." The young nurse finished up.

By the time Xzena had finished her explanation, the two were standing right in front of a plain white door, and numbers and letters decorated the steel plaque under the small window above it. Zack realized he had never seen this wing of the infirmary before. This must be some sort of ICU area. The numbers and letters on the plaque had been read as 'Room two o' eight. Patient: Cloud Strife'. The Second class felt a small hand on his shoulder, and when he looked down, the female ravenette was casting him a sad smile.

"I'll give you a few minutes to visit. I'll be back to check on you soon." She spoke. With that, she removed her small hand from his shoulder, then began to walk away, disappearing from his line of sight when she took a right, returning to the front desk.

Zack's eyes went back to look at that name-tag on the door. The longer he stared at it, the more his heart hurt in a way. His chest was aching, and the trembling in his fingers started up again, only increasing tenfold by this time. He swallowed another thick lump, gripping the doorknob tightly in his grasp. The metal had been cold, even through his gloves and it chilled his clammy fingers. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, bracing himself for what he was about to see.

He turned the cold knob, and slowly cracked the door open. He kept his eyes downcast, too afraid to look up. He kept his head down as he closed the door in that same quiet manner. The door shut with a soft click, and he finally looked up. His breath hitched in his chest, and his heart began to beat hard and loud, slamming itself against the body of his manubrium. There lay Cloud, eyes open and radiating brightly. He had two blood transfusions hooked up to his left and right arm at the same time. He had breathing tubes and an IV hooked up to him. He was so pale he rivaled the appearance of a corpse.

Zack slowly approached his bed, almost too afraid to keep looking into the blonde's eyes. It was as if his eyes followed the ravenette's every moment, even though they were completely stationary. He pulled up a chair, sitting by one of the nearby walls, and sat down on it. The steady beeping of the cardiac monitor was the only thing that reassured the Second class that his little Chocobo was actually alive. Carefully, the ravenette ran a gloved hand through the blonde's impossibly spiky hair. He received no hum of appreciation for his actions like he usually did, but instead was given silence.

Upon further inspection, Zack realized that Cloud was even void of any coloring in his cheeks, and even though his eyes were brightly glowing, they looked dim and dying at the same time. His body was colder than ice, and rivaled the coldest winter storm. The ravenette grabbed some of the flimsy blankets covering the blonde's body in his free hand, then pulled them up and tucked them in close to the incapacitated cadet, right under his shoulders.

"Get well soon, Chocobo." Zack sadly stated, placing a tender kiss upon Cloud's cold forehead.

He stopped playing with the blonde's hair, then held his hands down in his lap. He sat there, gazing sadly at the one he loved in silence. Now, that beeping wasn't enough clearance to assure the ravenette that his ray of sunshine was doing fine. If only he had been stronger, then this wouldn't have happened. If he hadn't gotten attacked by that Jabberwocky, he could have saved the blonde, and the others as well. But what good would come out of brooding over the past? If anything, it would just serve to dampen what little bit of his spirits he still had left.

He gripped his pants in his fists tightly, his eyes glowering down at his lap, tears of anguish and anger fell from his eyes as a choked hiccup escaped past his lips. He closed his eyes tightly, and he could feel the bite of his nails past his gloves and fabric of his pants. He wouldn't know what to do if he lost his other half. Living without his sunshine wouldn't be living at all. He then leaned over the rails of the hospital bed, nuzzling his face into the crook of the blonde's neck.

"I'm sorry..." Was all he said, before he found comfort in weeping where he had laid his head.

By this time, Xzena had peeked her head in quietly to check up on them, and after seeing what she saw, she decided to leave the room without saying a word. She would let Zack stay there as long as he needed to.

_-0-0 [VII] 0-0-_

It was cold and dark here. Cloud was unsure which way he was facing, unsure which way was up or down. His eyes scanned through the pitch black darkness, but he was unable to make anything out. How did he get in a place like this? The last thing he remembered was hovering above that Mako Pool in the mouth of a Jabberwocky. What happened after that? He was pretty sure he had to be dead or something. But then again, if he was dead, he wouldn't be feeling any pain of fatigue now would he? Slowly, he rose to his feet in this empty void, looking all around for a source of light, but being unable to find one.

He shivered slightly and rubbed his arms together. This cold was really starting to get to him, and he was used to the cold, having grown up in the mountains. With no sense of direction, he began to walk, keeping his arms close to his chest to keep warm. Besides his own breathing, there were no sounds in this void. Nothing to smell, nothing to touch besides his own skin, and nothing to see past all this darkness. Minutes felt like hours to him, and it felt as if he was walking in circles. This never ending blackness was going to drive him crazy!

All of a sudden, he heard a garbled sounding voice. Cloud stopped walking and looked all around, trying to pinpoint where that voice had came from. he heard it once more. It sounded like it was coming from every direction. He anxiously looked around more frantically. This voice sounded so familiar, but who did it belong to? A dim light was beginning to form in the distance in front of him, not that far away! He began to run towards the dim light, nearly fumbling over his own footsteps. That voice echoed once more, and it was coming from the dim light!

He tried to run faster, once again nearly tripping over nothing. He wanted to feel that warm light against his skin, and he wanted to wake up from this dark and hellish nightmare! The light was nearly in reach now. Cloud stretched his hand out as far as if could go, getting ready to grab a hold of that soothing light. Suddenly, the ground below him gave way and turned into water, dragging him down under the current and away from the light.

"You're not going anywhere..." A dark and eerie voice growled.

With that, Cloud was pulled under the surface, and instantly, it solidified over his head. He was trapped under the water. He was going to drown all over again. Just as he couldn't hold his breath and was about to give in, a flash of white light assaulted his vision, blinding him. It faded into darkness, and once more, the blonde found himself sitting alone in the void. Doomed to repeat what just happened again and again until he could finally pry his eyes open.

If only he could just wake up...  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_A/N: And there's chapter four! :D A bit different from the original, but still the same in some parts. So, what did ya' think? Love it? Hate it? Lemmi know whatcha thought of this chappie, okay? :) Hearing your guys and your response to this story always motivates me to type faster! :3_

_Well, I'll see you all in chapter five! But until then..._

_Toodles! :D_  
_~Zimithrus1_


	5. Good Morning, Sunshine

_Oh goodie! Chapter five is now out and ready for a reading! :D I'm getting into this story so much! I'm glad I decided to re-do it, and I bet you guys are as well! Anyhow, let's take a look down below and see what happens next! :)_

* * *

_~XChapter 5: Good Morning, SunshineX~_

These past eight days had been nothing short of Hell itself for Zack. Each day, he'd make it through his normal routine, then top it all off with a somber visit to the infirmary. Cloud had shown no signs of waking from his comatose state, and only seemed to be getting worse as time progressed. His cardiac rate had slowed tremendously, as well as his heavy breathing. Even after a full eight days of constant blood transfusions, he had gained no color to his face or cheeks. His skin was still as pale as an untouched snow. Not to mention, he was still getting those wretched transfusions.

Even through comatose, the blonde had managed to get skinnier and scrawnier than ever before. One could wrap their thumb and pinky around his wrist, and still have some space to move or tighten the circle. Last time he had been weighed, he had been a healthy hundred and twenty pounds. Now he probably only weighed a hundred, if that. The medical gown he was clothed in had started to become too big for him, and swallowed his frail body. Throughout the eight days of his sleep, not once had he received a proper shower. His skin was now gritty, and his once radiant wheat blonde hair had darkened to a greasy light brown.

The once healthy cadet that had still retained some baby fat around his face and body, had now withered away and taken deteriorating shelter inside the body of a fading old man. The muscles he had just started to gain had all but retreated by this point. He just looked so weak and brittle, as if the tiniest touch would crack his skin like damaged clay or fine porcelain. If one observed his body, nearly all of his ribs would be showing. He could not hold any food down in this state. If this kept up any longer, he'd be sure to die.

So one could see why Zack was always solemn upon visiting the one he loved at this moment. Just gazing at the withering teen was enough to make his heart hurt and his stomach twist into knots. Once more, he just finished some rigorous training with Angeal -He had been training under him since the blonde's comatose- And was now on his way to the infirmary. He had showered very quickly before leaving, so he did not smell of sweat this go round, but sweet peas instead.

The ravenette was currently standing inside the elevator, looking up and staring at the digital display that told him what floor he was currently on. He watched the little red numbers change every three seconds, counting from the SOLDIER training floor, towards the infirmary. He had his hands in his pockets, and he remained silent and stationary. He had felt rather depressed as of late, probably because his sunshine was currently sleeping away and unable to brighten his day like he used to. The Second class just felt like giving up, thinking it would never get any better.

The steel doors opened with a ding as the little box stopped its ascent on the correct floor. Zack stepped out and took a deep breath, bracing himself for another quiet visit. But much to his surprise, Xzena was waiting for him near the reception desk. She had this big grin on her face that could rival the brightness of the morning sun. She scurried towards him, her eyes sparkling with the same intensity as her smile. She was cloaked in her standard white coat, but had a black and grey striped shirt underneath, and a pair of black slacks complete with a pair of All Stars.

"You look rather peppy today, Xzen'. Get a raise or something?" Zack asked, fishing out a soft smile for her as his hands remained in his pockets.

"Even better than that! But you'll find out for yourself! Go on now!" The female ravenette exclaimed. She gave her black haired counterpart a nudge down the hall where Cloud's room was.

The Second class was a bit confused, but something inside him said he was going to like this, whatever it was that 'this' happened to be. Finding some hidden energy, he removed his hands from his pockets and jogged down the hall, taking a right at the end of the hall. Within seconds, he found himself outside the blonde's room with his heart hammering in anticipation. He quietly opened the door and slipped in without a sound. As he was about to close the door and turn around, a feeble voice broke the silence.

"...z-Zack?" the weary sounding voice asked.

The ravenette quickly spun on his heel and his eyes were wide. Cloud was laying there as usual, but his eyes were open, and he was awake at long last. He had an innocent, and nearly oblivious look on his face, as if he had only fallen asleep for a few hours and had woken up in different surroundings. The blonde had the blankets pulled up to his shoulders, and yet there was a soft smile on his face as he continued to look at the Second class only feet away from him.

"Cloud! You're awake!" Zack cried, pure elation swelling in his voice as he rushed over to the blonde.

The ravenette instantly pulled the cadet into his broad arms, holding him close. This felt so unreal, as if it was only a dream. He couldn't believe his ray of sunshine was awake, and returned back to him. He took in a deep hit of the blonde's scent, close to his neck. Knowing that the frail teen would recover from his addiction just made the Second class hold him tighter.

"you-You're crushing me..." Cloud grunted, obviously weakened by the sudden sickness he had come down with.

Zack instantly pulled away from the blonde, afraid of causing him more harm or discomfort. It was obvious that little comment alone had hurt him. He knew Cloud was going to have been weakened from the addiction, but he didn't know he'd hardly be able to hold him close and tight like he used to. To save himself from further temptations, he locked his hands behind his back, offering just a smile this time. Letting him go when he wasn't ready just...Hurt somehow.

"Sorry, Sunshine. I just couldn't help myself." The ravenette honestly replied. He'd have to be gentle with the blonde for a few days apparently.

"It's okay...Um..." Cloud began as his eyes scanned the room. He must have not been awake for very long. His glowing eyes of Mako blue looked back towards the Second class. "Where am I exactly?" He softly added.

"Infirmary." Was Zack's simple and blunt response. He did however, pull up a chair and sit right next to the blonde's bed.

At that, the cadet's eyes had widened tremendously, and his little fingers had gripped the sheets in his hands even tighter than he had been previously doing. He seemed to cower back in his bed, slowly and shakily. Apparently, he hadn't gotten complete control over his motor skills and movements yet. The Second class quickly, and softly, grasped one of the blonde's hands and gave a reassuring squeeze.

"You're alright. You just got a little banged up on your last mission and fell asleep." Zack spoke, leaving out most of the major details for now.

At first, Cloud looked confused, not recalling anything before this. But then his eyes enlarged once more, and a small whimper left from his slightly parted lips. Evidence of future tears began to swell behind his radiating eyes as he remembered what had transpired for him to land himself here. The Jabberwock, all those slaughtered people, the Mako...Drowning. Everything came rushing back at him like a tidal wave, and he didn't like it one bit! His arms began to tremble and his breathing became erratic, all within a matter of seconds.

The ravenette quickly pulled the blonde into his arms, being gentle as he held him this time. Gaia, he felt so small and fragile in his arms. The little trooper buried his face into the Second class' shoulder, and his hands released the sheets and gripped onto his companion's strong arms, squeezing them as tight as he could in his moment of panic. He remembered that silent void of darkness he had been trapped in on repeat. That alone was horrifying enough. How long had he been asleep?

But thinking things through a little more, he realized that the garbled voice in that void had belonged to Zack. The ravenette must have been trying to call him out of that dark spell, but never reaching him far enough to shake him from his comatose state. Cloud removed his face from his significant other's shoulder, looking right into those electric blue eyes of his. He had been there since day one, always watching over him as he forcefully slept.

The cadet wasted no time in pressing his lips against the second class' own. He found that the older teen had been nearly dying for this, because he instantly melted into the affectionate action, yet savoring each moment as long as he could without overdoing it. Feeling the cool chill of the blonde's own colorless lips, only drove the ravenette to kiss back in some fiery manner seeking to warm the delicate flesh, and in a sense, comfort the younger teen.

Zack instantly held Cloud closer to his chest, still igniting that blazing passion in the form of hot and quick kisses. When he had pulled away, he was glad to see some color returning to the blonde's lips and cheeks. A gloved hand ended up roaming through his impossible wheat colored spikes, seeking to soothe and comfort the once frightened cadet, and a bright smile had been etched into the Second class' face. His eyes were alight with the same intensity as his big grin. He was so glad his little Chocobo was awake.

"Good morning, Sunshine." Zack sweetly spoke, still keeping Cloud wrapped up in his arms.

"Good to be up." The blonde responded.

* * *

Now that Cloud was awake, he was able to start eating properly. As of now, the little trooper had problems trying to do things himself. After all, he had only woken up two hours ago. So he found out that even trying to feed himself was a challenge. His body would not respond to the nerves in his brain correctly, and instead of graceful and smooth movements, they were choppy and jerky. Sometimes, the blonde had troubles speaking, for his mouth would seize up on occasion, making him stammer and stutter over his own words.

Zack was still by his side, keeping the blonde company and helping him out when he needed it. Well, he was sitting on the foot of Cloud's bed in all technicality. A tray of food had been placed on a small table that fit the bed, just a few inches away from the blonde's hands. The ravenette had gone out of his way to pick up some food from the cafeteria for his little Sunshine.

The food selection contained a variety of things; Sandwiches, fruits, desserts, -God knows how many cartons of milk- snacks, and vegetables as well. Cloud's eyes had widened, not knowing how he could ever eat that much. His stomach ended up growling without mercy, nearly ordering him to eat everything on the tray.

The blonde had also noticed that the ravenette was looking at something in his lap, keeping it hidden from the younger teen. A faint blush of pink had been brushed across his cheeks, as if he was embarrassed of something as he continued to look down. The trooper had thought he was looking at...Certain parts of himself, but he had been wrong when he saw a bit of this old brown cloth poking out from under the protection of his gloved hands.

"Zack, what are you hiding?" Cloud asked, able to speak that sentence without stuttering or stammering.

The Second class slowly looked up, and finally sucked it up and put whatever was in his lap, and onto the tray next to Cloud's food. The object in question had been none other than an old stuffed hedgehog that looked to have received many years of rough loving and a bit of damage. Its' beady marble eyes were beaten in, most likely from tumbling around in a dryer, and it had some bald spots in the synthetic fur. Around it's right ear, there were tiny stitches to keep the appendage attached to the stuffed animal. The blonde couldn't help but stare.

"This is, uh, my hedgehog. His name is Mr. Quills. I've had him for fourteen years. I brought him along because he was all I had growing up, and he makes me feel better when I'm having a bad day. I thought maybe he could keep you company while you stayed in here..." Zack sheepishly spoke up. He began to wring his fingers and he kept his eyes on his lap.

Cloud slowly reached out his hand, his jerking movements only at a twitch right now, and he pulled it back to him. It was still soft and cuddly as could be, even if the thing happened to be nearly as old as the ravenette himself. He noticed the toy had this warmth about it. Not because the Second Class had it in his hands, but, it was a comforting feeling. He pulled the stuffed companion of his significant other's close to his chest and smiled.

"Thanks Zack...I like h-him. He's c-cute." The blonde stuttered a bit, but never the less, kept that innocent smile on his face.

The ravenette popped his head up, and a smile of his own was plastered on his face. "Good!" He nearly exclaimed.

"But...Why do you have...A stuffed animal? I've never seen it...Before." The cadet sputtered out, unintentionally pausing as he tried to get the sentence out of his mouth.

"That's 'cause I keep him under my pillow..." Zack coyly muttered, the pink blush on his cheeks flushing into more of a deep red color as he looked back down at his lap again.

"Aww...My little Puppy has a sensitive side." Cloud cooed, a bright smile on his face. A small giggle even followed his comment.

That only caused the ravenette's blush to deepen even further in color. His face was near beet red by this time, yet he had this quirky little grin on his face. Hearing his ray of Sunshine giggle had just put him in an even better mood than he already had been in. It had been so long since he last had this kind of moment with the blonde, and he was enjoying every moment of it. The little moment was interrupted when a loud growl from the trooper's stomach resonated through the room. When Zack looked up, the younger teen was now blushing.

"I guess I should eat s-something, huh?" He rhetorically asked. He gently set the hedgehog -known as Mr. Quills- down beside him and went to reach towards his tray of food.

As he stretched his left hand out to grab it, it began to shake and twitch violently. Getting a little freaked out, he quickly retracted it as best as he could. He had his other hand hold his twitching arm close to his chest. Even though it was no longer moving, it kept twitching and shaking, sending little jolts of movement up to Cloud's shoulder. A small whimper rumbled in this throat. His arm had never quivered this bad before since waking up. It was frightening him.

Zack reached over and let his hand rest over the blonde's twitchy arm. When the younger boy looked up at him, he was greeted with a soft smile. The look alone said without words 'It's alright'. Almost instantly after that, the twitching and shaking stopped, and relief had washed over the cadet. For good measure, the Second class pulled his hand out, then brought it to his lips and kissed it. This action earned him a blushing mess of blonde.

Going back to the current situation, Cloud used his right hand to reach over to the tray just inches away from him. His right arm did not twitch, and he was able to move it without the slightest jerk or quiver. A small small pulled at the corners of his lips at that. He carefully gripped a red apple in his hand, then retracted it back to him. As he pulled it back, his fingers flexed without his doing, and the apple fell from his hands, rolled across the bed, then finally fell onto the floor.

"m-My apple..." The blonde nearly whimpered. He was looking forward to eat it, then he just dropped it on the floor, even if it was slightly uncontrollable.

He made move to try and lean over to pick it up, but Zack protested by leaning over and picking it up himself, all the while telling him 'I'll get it, I don't want you to fall over and hurt yourself'. The ravenette wiped the apple off on his shirt before handing it back to the blonde for him to enjoy. Cloud gingerly accepted the fallen fruit, then took a large bite from it, smiling at the flavor and moisture it gave his mouth. He had successfully eaten the entire apple -minus the core and seeds- in five minutes. He then moved on to eat the rest of the food, quickly being able to devour it in a matter of minutes.

The blonde was able to finish at least six pounds of food in under fifteen minutes, and he hadn't choked at all! That had to have been a personal best. He looked up from the now barren lunch tray with a happy smile on his face. He couldn't remember the last time he had so much to eat without complaining about how full he was, or how he might throw it back up.

"Glad to see you've got your appetite. You need to put some meat back on those bones of yours you know." Zack teased as he ruffled Cloud's spiky hair once more.

"Thanks for today, Zack. I appreciate it." The blonde said appreciatively, keeping that smile on his face. He then reached over and grabbed Mr. Quills, holding the stuffed hedgehog close "-And thanks for the cuddle buddy too." He added on as a rosy pink blush flourished behind his cheeks.

"You're welcome, Sunshine." The ravenette responded back.

* * *

_A/N: Whoo! Chappie five is done! :D whad'ja think? Was it good? :p And isn't that sweet, Zack bein' a softie for an old stuffie! I actually based his hedgehog off my own stuffed rabbit :) It's also fourteen years old, has a few bald spots, and has suffered a bit of damage in the dryer. And I still sleep with it every night! *puffs chest out* Wait...Should I be proud of that? :o_

_Anyway, let me know what you thought of the chappie! And as always..._

_Toodles!_  
_~Zimithrus1_


	6. Broken Wings

_Whoop, Whoop, raise the roof! :D Okay, I can't believe I just did that, but here's another chapter of Mako Mutations for you guys to read! :) Here's where things are going to start picking up and accelerating even more than before, you have been warned, muwahah! :D Anyway, enjoy chappie six! :3  
_

* * *

_XChapter 6: Broken WingsX~_

Zack had sat himself behind a shaking blonde in his hospital bed. He had wrapped his broad arms around the frail cadet and had his left hand gently rubbing the trooper's quivering and convulsing left arm. The younger teen in front of him was whimpering incoheriantly and loudly while tears were threatening to spill from his bloodshot eyes. The ravenette didn't know what had gone wrong in such a short period of time. Cloud and himself had been normally talking, just as they did every day since the blonde's recovery, then all of a sudden the cadet gripped his arm when it started to shake. Since then, it had only gotten worse.

The Second class held the shaking trooper even tighter when the body in front of him began to tremble with more intinsity as the pain in his left arm increased. While in his right hand, Mr. Quills was being squeezed tightly. Any tighter and the stuffing from his middle might pop out to the rest of his body and inflate his head too much. Zack still continued to gently rub at the convulsing limb and whispered comforting words to try and calm him down.

The pain had been assaulting the seventeen year old for over five minutes now, the longest it had ever lasted. Tears had finally slipped from the blonde's eyes and quickly cascaded his over flushed cheeks. The shaking seemed to be spreading throughout his entire lithe body, and the stuffed hedgehog was shvering right along with in the arms of the blonde. The cardiac moniter kept count of the younger teen's escalating heartbeat, beeping in rapid succession with his pain and panic.

After another full minute of this chaos, the shaking and trembling in Cloud's left arm finally subsided, as did the panicky beats of his heart. Covered in a glaze of cold sweat and a small trace of tears, he leaned against Zack and released one last weak whimper. The trembling in his arm had started only a mere two hours after his awakening, and as the days rolled by, the pain increased in intensity as well as time. For each day that rolled by, another minute of pure pain was added on to the blonde's recovery time. After every attack of pain and panic, it would leave the cadet in a sickly shape; weak and vunerable.

The ravenette gently leaned over the younger teen, observing his physical condition. Color had been washed from his cheeks and his flesh became pale like the moon's soft light. His breaths were large and greedy, gulping in large amounts of air he had earlier lost to his panic. His dull blue eyes looked back at the Second class behind him. Even though the color seemed dim, the Mako within them made them luminous and strangely eerie.

"Hey, you alright?" Zack softly asked as his hands gently carresed the blonde's slender frame. He nestled his head on the small shoulder in front of him, just to let the other know he was there.

"Yeah, I'll be alright." Cloud responded quietly as his breathing finally evened out. The small comfort as appriciated with a soft hum, as usual. The cadet had loosened to grip on Mr. Quills and just let him snuggle under the soft hold of his arm.

The ravenette could tell that the blonde was not being completely honest with him on his condition, but what could he do about it? He just stayed silent as he continued to rest his head in the crook of his significant other's neck, keeping his arms around him as well. It was all he really could do for him at the moment. It was then silent between the two for a few moments, save for some shallow breathing. After a bit, there was a ringing in the air that blended into the silence.

"So...How are you sleeping without me or Mr. Quills?" Cloud playfully brought up as he relaxed his body in the Second class's arms, using his hands to gently move the little appendages of the stuffed toy.

"Have you not seen the dark circles?" Zack joked back as he pointed to his eyes, which weren't as bad as he made them out to be.

The blonde began to giggle, then that quiet amusement became full fledged laughing. Hearing the younger teen laugh, made the ravenette do just the same, if not slightly louder. After a solid minute of chuckling and sometimes snorting, the laughter finally tapered off and the cadet had tears swelling in his eyes from how hard he had chortled and such. The Second class loved it when his Sunshine laughed like that. He couldn't remember the last time he had heard him sound so carefree. He loved every minute of it.

"I'm so glad you're doing better." Zack quietly spoke as a smile flittered across his face as a quick kiss was placed on the blonde' left cheek.

"Me too." Cloud responded, smiling back at the affection being shown to him. Mr. Quills then rested undisturbed against the blonde's stomach.

There was sudden and rapid knocking on the door, drawing the attention of the two currently inside. Perplexed looks swept across their faces, not ever recalling such an impatient sounding knock before. It couldn't be any of the nurses, they weren't supposed to check up on the blonde for at least another hour. Before either of the two could ask who it was, the door quickly swung open and slammed into the wall right behind it. There for all to behold was Shaedon Lancastor.

The dual hair colored teenager was panting as he held his index finger up, knowing the look the two had on their faces in that moment in time. He sucked up greedy gulps of air before wiping his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. The energetic boy had a band-aid over the bridge of his nose and a medicated patch on his right cheek. His right wrist was sporting some old looking bandages that needed to be replaced it seemed. He was currently clothed in his standard issued uniform, but it was sloppily made, with wrinkles and crinkles everywhere.

"Azure-Eyes! You're awake!" The teen cried, his trademark grin of sharp jagged teeth dancing from behind his thin lips.

"I've kinda been awake for three days now, Shae." The blonde said, shaking his head as an amused smile flickered across his face.

"Oh Mother Chocobo! Lieutenant Fair, you're in here too?" The cadet cried, quickly bringing up his right hand for a sharp salute as his eerie grin became more nervous.

Zack just began to chuckle from behind the blonde he still had his arms wrapped around. Yet his chuckling soon became hearty laughter, and he even flopped his head down on the blonde trooper's neck, chortling even louder against the back of his significant other. He tried to suck in a few breaths, but every time he looked up at Shaedon, the laughter began all over again and he had to hide behind the seventeen year old in front of him.

Then Shaedon started laughing and snorting like a piglet, his posture becoming more slacked as his salute quickly fell into holding his right side as he choked up in pure amusement with the Second class. All the while, the blonde just sat there, blinking absently at what the Hell had been so funny? He then sound himself snickering with the others, nearly forgetting how contaigeous laughter could be. The room soon became alight with laughs and snorts as all three were laughing until their sides ached and their lungs burned in the amusement.

"y-Yes Lancastor, I'm here too. You d-don't ha-haha- have to salute." Zack finally spoke, his laugher barely beginning to waver and quiet down as he wiped at his eyes with his gloved hands.

The sixteen year old then shuffled over towards his fellow friend, his feet dragging and skidding across the tile as he walked. He paused beside the blonde's bed, grinning thinly as his lips hid his freakishly jagged teeth. He did not sit on the bed like the Second class was doing, but only remained at the sturdy rails of the hospital bed. He then clapped his hands together in sudden realization, then dug around in the back pockets of his pants, removing a can of grape soda, and a Choco-chocolate bar. He then held the sweets out towards the blonde.

"I brought you some get well candy! I know these are your favorites, so I brought 'em along!" The young cadet spoke as he bounced on the balls of his feet as a flickering smile of pride pulled at his lips.

"Thanks Shae, I'd take them, but you're too busy hopping up and down." Cloud playfully responded as he held his hands out.

"Oopsies! Sorry Azure-Eyes! Here you go!" The little trooper exclaimed as he stopped bouncing long enough to place the soda and chocolate into the other's hands.

The dual hair colored teen then said he could only stay long enough to deliver the sweets because he snuck out of his swordplay class to see the blonde. Cloud had playfully chided his younger friend for his brashness and impulsive -not to mention impatient- nature as he left.

The door shut quietly this time, unlike how it had been opened before. The seventeen year old sighed and shook his head once more as that same soft smile pulled at his lips. How had he ever made friends with someone so energetic? Then again, that was like asking how had he ever fallen for someone with the same level of enthusiasm with said person sitting right behind him.

"Now who does Shaedon remind me of?" The blonde pondered out loud as he looked behind him at the ravenette with coltish eyes,

"Hmm, I just don't know, who Does he remind you of?" Zack retorted in an elfish manner.

He blinked his eyes at the cadet seductively as he nuzzled his face into the crook of the blonde's neck, puffing warm air from his nose against the delicate flesh. A coy grin slithered across his fair face when he felt the cadet shivered tenderly. Deciding to keep things sweet, rather then throw them both into something heated, he just gave a few kisses to the blonde's neck, smiling even brighter.

Hums of appriciation and affection greeted him smoothly as the creamy face in front of him nuzzled against his own, the colors of their flesh clashing like sun kissed sand delicately melting a virgin snow; untouched and pure. He moved from the blonde's neck to his cheek, then to his lips, still smiling. Moments like these were what the ravenette really enjoyed with his significant other. The other perks were nice, but this is what really mattered most to him; spending time just showing delicate affection to the other.

"I love you so much." Zack whispered, delicately kissing Cloud once more on his thin lips.

"I love you too." The blonde softly spoke, a big pink blush flourishing across his cheeks as well as a light smile.

The two stayed that way for many minutes, talking and enjoying the other's presence. Until the blonde started to eat the sweets that Shaedon had brought in, then the conversation became lots of garbled and stuffed sounding speech. The ravenette even stole a few bites of the cadet's chocolate bar, making said trooper yank it away and pout at him for doing such a 'hainus act'. That in return just made the Second class crack up with little chuckles of laughter.

On occation, there was kissing and cuddling, but mostly they just stayed close to one another. It was peaceful for them both, and no one or nothing was there to disturb them or interrupt the time they spent together. It wasn't until mid-evening when things began to change. The sun began to paint the world in orange, dim yellow, and soothing red. Clouds above were softly painted a creamy yellow, gently tapering off to a light purple as night was on the rise.

Even though the sky was beautiful and beginning to sleep for the night, there was this foreboding aura in the air around the two. Cloud had grown strangely quiet, and he was hardly talking to Zack now. The ravenette was currently sitting on the foot of the blonde's bed, glancing into those eyes of his. He knew something was wrong with the little trooper. He was Too quiet. Not to mention, there was a slight twitching in his right eye now, and his left arm was beginning to twitch once more.

"Cloud, what's wrong?" Zack asked, cocking his head to the right as he did so. His eyes caught the orange light of the setting sun, making them glow like a dim blue fire.

"It's...Nothing." The blonde said in some kind of strained way. He was trying hard not to let obvious pain show through. He once again had Mr. Quills wrapped up in his arms, but mostly holding the toy with his left.

The ravenette gave him a narrowed look, telling him that he didn't say the right thing. The cadet did not respond, and even looked away from the Second class. He twitching in his right eye was beginning to increase, as well as the shaking in his arm. No doubt about it, the onset of pain would be on its' way once more. Xzena then stepped into the room, softly smiling at the two as she entered, wearing more professional looking clothing under her white lab coat. That's why the trooper was acting tough, he didn't want anybody else to see him so vunerable.

"Good evening, Zack. You too, Cloud." The female ravenette greeted as she appraoched the hosptial bed.

She checked the cardiac moniter the cadet was hooked up to, as well as his IV and blood transfusion packets. She smiled and unhooked the tube that connected to the blood packet from the blonde's right arm. He was finally done with transfusions. That was a plus at least. The IV bag was changed out and replaced with a fresher one. The two remained silent as she performed her tasks.

That was when Cloud cupped his hand over his right eye, grunting as he curled his body in around himself, tyring to brush of the inevitable pain that suddenly began to kick up. But usually it was his arm that started hurting first. Xzena looked a bit startled at the sudden reaction, but Zack was quickly by the blonde's side again, checking him over and trying to comfort him as best he could at the moment.

"When did this start happening?" Xzena quickly asked whenever the cadet began to grunt and moan a little louder as the seconds ticked by.

"Just a few hours after he woke up." Zack replied, getting a bit more worried when the blonde's grunts were becoming louder and louder.

After only a few seconds, Cloud was screaming and howling in pain, and his nails were beginning to dig into his eyelid and surrounding skin. His left arm then began to convulse and tremble wildly. The hedgehog trembling right along with. The ravenette had never seen it get so bad before. He instantly curled his body around the trooper's from behind, then squeezed his arms around the blonde's waist tightly, pressing his head against the blonde's cheek. He often did this when the blonde went a bit haywire. He took the time to whisper how he was going to be alright.

"Do I need to get some morphine or acetaminophen for him?" Xzena quickly asked over the howling blonde as she hurried to the side of the bed.

Cloud quickly looked over, keeping his arm over his twitching eye. The female ravenette's eyes widened upon seeing something frightening. Under the cup shape of his hand, blood was beginning to trickle down his cheek and arm, as well as some clear translucent substance that looked a lot like Mako. She immediatly gripped the blonde's arm, ripping it away from his face with as much strength as she could muster, then staggered back a few steps; instantly pale.

"I-Is it bad?" The blonde whimpered as his twitching arm rubbed at his infected looking blue eye.

When he pulled his hand back, the sight of crimson and Mako staining his flesh made him quickly throw himself back into Zack, as if trying to pull his body away from the blood stained hand. He had hit the ravenette with enough force to send air from his lungs harshly as a soft gagging noise followed behind laggingly. He was about to ask why the Hell the blonde did that, but then he saw the blood and Mako on his right hand. He quickly pulled the blonde close to his chest, then observed his condition hovering right above him.

There was thick amounts of blood beginning to pour out of Cloud's right eye, and the thick red substance was laced with strands of transparent Mako. With a sudden burst of urgency, the ravenette took his gloved hand and began to wipe the blood and Mako away. But as soon as he was able to clean off the trooper's cheek, more of the two substances would spurt right back out and defile his ever pale face. His good eye was crying an abundance of tears by this point, and the twitching in his eye and arm increased tenfold.

Zack watched in petrified animation as he saw Cloud's right eye explode from his socket, bursting through the air covering in what looked to be streams and pools of blood. The discarded organ tumbled across the sheets, then disintegrated into nothing but old browning blood and fresh Mako. Rivers of the crimson liquid pulsed out of the socket of his eye like a rushing red waterfall. It left the blonde screaming and howling, crazed by fear and pain.

The ravenette was horrified beyond all belief, nearly feeling the urge to vomit rising in his throat as a thick lump of bile. He didn't need to look into a mirror to know his face had no color and probably rivaled the appearance of the dead. He swallowed harshly, then firmly pressed his right gloved hand against the gaping hole in the blonde's head, pressing in to try and stop the bleeding.

He could feel the thick and warm substance seep through his glove and lightly stroke across his fingers as the leather began to absorb more and more. The trooper was screaming his lungs out, and his panicked voice was surely echoing through the door and down the halls of the infirmary wing. Mr. Quills was beginning to get a few drops of blood on his fur, well, what unmatted fur was left on top of his head.

By this point, Xzena quickly swung the door open, screaming to get some help as she ran down the halls, going to gather as many nurses and doctors as she could round up. She left the door cracked open, and this only magnified the blonde's screams and nearly inhuman howls across the whole floor, and maybe then some. Save for the cries of agony and fear, it seemed deadly silent to Zack. Time was crawling at a snail's pace to him. His heart was hammering in his chest, pounding in fear.

What the Hell was going on? Minus the pain, the blonde had been recovering so well! Then Sephiroth's words from days ago echoed in his head: '_From what I've read, if they do survive, within a week or two of signs of showing recovery, something terrible happens and they are changed forever'._

Goddess...Is this what that report meant? Was this the fate of every single level eight Mako posioning patient's survival? This was nearly worse than death it seemed. At least you don't suffer when you die.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he could hear a loud ripping sound, like velcro. Looking down, he saw the blonde's left arm -shoulder down- beginning to tear away from the rest of his body. Bloody strings of flesh began to stretch and pull, soon becoming the only things keeping the blonde's arm attatched to his body. The ravenette could see chunks of muscle and torn blood vessels just slipping out of his significant other's shoulder.

The discarded insides slipping with a squelching sound flopped against the bedsheets in a sickening splattering noise. Blood was seeping into the once white bedsheets, and was now even beginning to drip from the edges of the blankets, steadily tapping on the tile below the bed. Cloud screamed like he had never screamed before, and the tearing velcro noise only began to get louder, and his loose skin strands keeping his arm located to his shoulder began to pop and snap, flicking blood in every direction.

Just like his eye, his arm flew across the room. The stuffed hedgehog went soaring through the air along with the discarded limb. It hit the wall, and immediately as it did, it transformed into pools of blood and Mako, and those substances splashed the walls and floor as if a pint of red paint was splattered at it. The bones, the muscles, everything once inside just withered to a heaping mass of scarlet red on the tiles.

Thick blood oozed around the stringy mass of mush, resembling freshly cut and packaged hamburger meat in shape and color. Poor Mr. Quills was now saturated in the red mess of mush and blood as he lay on the floor on top of the mush. The brown he had once possessed as now a deep garnet color that smelled metallic. This time, the ravenette did gag harshly, but suppressed the urge to vomit.

Zack didn't know weather to try and stop the bleeding in the blonde's eye, or his nub of a shoulder where his arm used to be. He used his left hand to cover up the exposed insides of his lover. He had only been sitting behind him, but his face and uniform was dotted in thick scarlet, and his gloves were well past the point of being soaked. They were flat out saturated.

Cloud screamed and shrieked, howled and cried, squirmed and seized, anything he could possibly do in his current state. Tears seemed to be stained down the good side of his face indefinitely with no hopes of ever being removed. He was colored in blood in a checkerboard fashion. The right side of his face was red, while his left was a ghostly white. On his body, the left side was decorated in scarlet, and the right was bathed in a corpse colored white.

Zack was about to speak up, but could feel rough rotating against his chest. Perplexed and horrified, he pulled himself back and looked at Cloud's backside. From under the gown, he saw two thick clots rotating around his shoulder blades, swelling thickly in some places, then thinning out in others. Fearing the worst -which he thought he already saw Hell itself- he gripped the back of the gown, then began to rip it in half. Petrified animation returned to his face as he looked at the skin bulging and rippling across his shoulder-blades.

Cloud loudly moaned in anguished discomfort the thicker the lumps in his shoulder-blades swelled. Those moans began to grow in crescendo as the clots under the skin began to bulge, and his flesh under them was commencing another ripping. Knowing the blonde's back would explode like his eye and arm at any minute, Zack quickly scrambled from behind the blonde and off the bed, stumbling as he felt weak in the knees at all he had seen in just a minor fifteen minutes. He ended up crashing to the tiled ground, almost hardly unable to sit up.

As the Second class looked behind him, he was in for the biggest shock of the evening. Cloud hunched forward, groaning and moaning loudly as those lumps began to push his skin to its' maximum elasticity, stretching it out behind him a good four inches. Then he let out a mighty scream as the bulges burst from his shoulder-blades and painted the wall and bed behind him in scarlet red. The clots began to swell enormously, growing in size as they began to resembled disfigured and lumpy ovals.

Then they stretched and shuddered, taking on a shape and form that the ravenette knew; Wings. The shape began to become more defined, as slabs of skin began to slip off the freshly formed appendages. Underneath the slipping flesh lay a marvelous soft golden yellow, and thick fluffy feathers entwined with the blood coated wings, pulsing with sudden life. The appendages flapped once, spraying stray blood and skin across the room which as now littered in red and Mako green.

During the blonde's transmogrification, his hair had become longer and thicker, now resting in between his shoulder-blades, and at the very tip of his hair, there was some white at the ends. The small cadet had been brutally mutated and transformed against his will. The screaming stopped, and the seventeen year old slowly looked up at Zack, blood and tears staining his face. The two stared at each other in silence. One was horrified, and the other looked nearly depressed.

"Do you still love me?" Cloud whispered.

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_A/N: *Shudders* Okay, that was just simply disgusting, huh? MUCH more descriptive than the original huh? :p So! Who's never eating hamburger meat again? *raises hand* XD Ooh, you all are probably cringing in fear and disgust...And probably hate for what I put Cloud through. I'm sorry! DX But it's just... *Shudders once more*_

_Anyhow, leave me your feedback and response in the reviews as well as any questions you might have for me :p You all keep me motivated to type so quickly you know!_

_Until the next brutal chapter my fair readers! :D _

_~Zimithrus1_


	7. What I've Become

_Oooohh! Guess who decided to upload chapter seven? Me! :D This chapter won't be as brutal as the last one, but it will contain many conflicting emotions and angst out that one place where the sun don't shine! 0o0 Anyhow, why don't we get started and see what unfurls? Enjoy! :)_

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_~XChapter 7: What I've BecomeX~_

Cloud and Zack continued to stare at one another, keeping silent. The blonde's eyes were dim, and immense pain could be seen swelling through them. The ravenette's eyes were wide as could be, and pulses of utter shock and near fear beat steadily through them. The thick blood splattered all over the walls and floor slid and dripped noiselessly, painting the room scarlet. There was ragged breath from each teen, and the stare was unrelentless.

The Second class' eyes slowly rolled over the cadet's wounds, taking them in to really process what just unfurled no more than twenty minutes ago. But his eyes settled on the blonde's wings. There was still chunks of skin covering the pale yellow appendages, as well as tiny rivers of ever fresh blood. But beyond that, there was beauty. There was some kind of alluring radiance softly glowing in those soft yet defiled wings of his.

As frightening Cloud looked right now, or as horrified as Zack was, he would not leave. Even if ever fiber in his body was emitting pulses of rejection and his mind's will became squeamish, he would not leave. His eyes rolled back to the blonde's own, and the staring continued once more. It did not last as long as the first go round because without feeling himself do so, the ravenette began to move.

He pulled his arms forward as smoothly as he could, trying to keep from trembling in front of the massively mutated cadet. With slow and nearly unsure motions, the Second class began to push himself back onto his feet. His eyes looked at his own blood dotted uniform, and suddenly, his blood stained hands felt sticky from the sweat re-wetting them. He clenched and unclenched his hands, forming fists, then flexing his fingers out to stretch them. The blonde watched him with an almost horrified expression with his one good eye.

"Hands-" The ravenette began, still making fists, "-they're sticky." He concluded, his voice a near mutter of shame it seemed. He kept his eyes away from the blonde now.

His small comment was greeted with silence. Not even a small hum of agreement or even a little grunt to signify that Cloud had been listening. Those Caribbean blue eyes just continued to stare up at the Second class, almost as how a predator observes its prey; Wildly. No doubt he had to be at least a little bit crazed with fear and pain with all that had happened. He just lost some limbs and parts of himself. No one would be sitting there sane. It was nearly a miracle he had stopped screaming. But that silence wasn't all too comforting either.

Zack finally gathered enough of his spirits to look at the cadet right in those eyes -correction, eye- of his. The blood around the gaping hole in his head was beginning to clot and darken, becoming more of a stale murky garnet color. More like a color of a bad dried scab. His right hand was still clenching at the hollow entrance of where his left arm used to be. That hand that had once been as pure as the finest silk was defiled from his body's own mass genocide against himself.

Zack's dull blue eyes rolled over to where the blonde's left arm had hit the wall and disintegrated into that mass. His eyes saddened even further when he saw his most prized material object on the ground; Discarded and covered in blood. With slow steps, he kept his eyes on the little toy he had loved so much as a child, and even now. He shakily took a knee, nearly loosing balance falling down.

He stretched out his arms and picked up the blood stained toy, looking it over. Every inch of Mr. Quills had been saturated in the crimson substance. His fur was beginning to mat up even more than it already was due to the sticky blood. He got up from his knelt position and stood up fully, still never taking his eyes off of his small companion he often kept under his pillow.

In a way, this seemed somewhat symbolic. Both the toy -and the boy- he loved had been transformed by pure coincidence. The things he held dear at present moment had brutally changed. He sought comfort in both of them, companionship too. He was a mix of emotions, and not much had actually happened _TO_ him. He just witnessed something horrifying happen to one of the people he cared most about. He was afraid, he was sad, he was confused. He didn't know what to think. So many thoughts rolled around in his head as he continued to stare at the defiled toy.

"I-I ruined him." Cloud's timid voice croaked. It was hoarse, but then again, why wouldn't it be?

Zack turned to look at him. That was the first sentence he had spoken since the transmogrification, besides the 'Do you still love me?' question that he did not answer. He had been too shocked to answer. The blonde's one good eye had pain and sorrow flooding within it. His good arm was still gripping at where his left arm had once been. It was weird to hear how calm he sounded in speaking, but inside, he must be freaking out.

"It's not your fault." The Second class quietly responded, pulling his eyes away from the cadet and back towards the toy.

He rolled it around in his hands for a moment or two, his hands feeling sticky all over again. He glanced back towards Cloud, gazing at him through his peripheral vision. He still looked heartbroken for what had happened to the stuffed hedgehog, and his eyes still held pain and confusion for his own current condition. He had almost failed to remember that the cadet had wings now. They were resting against the blood-soaked bed, not moving an inch.

The golden yellow wings were massive. The span had to at least be six to seven feet long. Even bigger than the blonde himself. The soft looking additions even hung off the bed, the longest feathers brushing against the blood dotted ground. Yet lots of blood and muscle still clung to the appendages and refused to let go or slip off. It would take some time to remove the persistent flesh. Dried blood had stained the feathery protrusions, and most of it looked like dirty red water with a fushia tint.

"Zack...Do you still love me?" Cloud's voice pressed once more.

There was more urgency bubbling inside, and if the ravenette didn't know better, he'd say the blonde was beginning to tremble in fear of utter rejection. A little whimper escaped from his chapped lips and it was now obvious he was beginning to quiver ever so slightly. Moisture began to swell in his one good eye and his good arm tightly gripped the blood stained bed sheets.

As the ravenette was about to take a step towards the heartbroken looking cadet and answer his question, Xzena returned with a nurse or two by her side. The three women had stopped dead in their tracks and looked around the scarlet painted room. The two by the female ravenette's side became squeamish. The one with curly brown hair brought her hands up to her face, hiding a gaping mouth. Her almond colored eyes were wide in disbelief. The other with sandy blonde hair took a step back, her jade green eyes as shocked and frightened as her fellow brunette co-worker.

"Sweet Minerva in Gaia..." The blonde gasped, the rest of the words pulled right out of her mouth.

"What the Hell happened?" The brunette nearly whimpered as she took in the sight of the horrifying looking blonde.

"I knew this was going to happen..." Xzena muttered, shaking her head as she looked down at the ground.

Putting on her best professional game face, she turned to her two colleagues. She put her hands on her hips and held her head up high. The other two women looked at her in near confusion, especially when they heard the 'knew this would happen' line. Xzena's eyes of emerald green looked down on them in an all business matter.

"Millie, Go and fetch professor Hojo immediately!" The female ravenette commanded of the girl with brown hair.

"Uh, right!" The girl know as Millie exclaimed, getting back into her professional state as well. She quickly turned tail and hurried out of the room.

"Amanda! Go get the janitorial department pronto! We gotta get this room cleaned up!" Xzena barked at the other female.

Amanda nodded without a word and left the room just like the brunette had done moments before. The young nurse heaved a heavy sigh as she slowly turned back around towards the ever silent Cloud and Zack. The two were now looking back at each other in silence. One looked antsy, and the other looked conflicted. She looked at both of them with crestfallen eyes and a sad smile to match. She looked all over the room for a brief moment, then back towards the blonde; His injuries to be more specific.

"It's not very good, but I've seen worse." She stated with the most fake laugh she could ever conjure up.

She shoved her hands into her standard issue white coat without another word and slowly began to make her way over to the blonde. As she approached, the two finally bade her some attention, Zack watched her without a word or a single noise. Cloud on the other hand, seemed to shrink in his bed, trying to pull his broken body away from her. His breathing became more ragged.

"It's alright." Xzena soothed, fishing out a softer smile for the blonde. She removed her hands from her pockets and continued to approach.

"Don't...Don't come near me..." Cloud pleaded with hardly a voice.

"Don't worry, it's okay. I won't hurt you. I promise." Xzena quelled once more with a near motherly voice that could hush any crying child.

As she reached a hand out to comfort him, he cried out with a ragged _'Get away!'_, and his wings expanded to full length in a quick burst of speed. The appendages smacked right into Xzena's gut and sent her skidding across the room, her back roughly collided into the blood stained wall with a loud thud. She slipped to the ground, coughing harshly and trying to regain lost breath.

Zack's eyes were alight in near shock and adrenaline began to race through his blood. Why would Cloud smack her away? He quickly looked towards the blonde to see those wings of his spread out to full length, quivering mightily in his panic. The ravenette's eyes went back to Xzena, checking her over to see if she was okay. She was a little winded, but not hurt. Noting this, the Second class immediately thundered over to the cadet, another mix of emotions swelling in his eyes once more.

"Get away from me, Zack!" Cloud cried, seeing the ravenette hurrying towards him. His wings shuddered once more, almost prepared to smack the SOLDIER away.

"Why did you attack Xzena?" The Second class cried out, more angry than he thought he was going to be.

"I...I don't want..." The cadet hopelessly stammered, unable to think straight with his significant other storming towards him with anger bubbled thickly in his voice.

"Answer me, damn it!" Zack ended up shouting as those eyes burrowed through through the other's only eye.

"**I don't want anyone near me!**" The blonde shrieked, swinging his wings out once more.

The ravenette was ready for a strike, and instantly, his blood stained gloves gripped the flimsy appendages. He expected them to be strong and thick since they knocked Xzena away, but it was just the opposite. The wings were thin, and they felt just like wet paper. They probably weren't as much durable either. If he really wanted to, the Second class could crush these wings in a cinch. But why would he? As confused, angry, and scared as he was, he knew Cloud was acting like this because of nothing more than fear and pain.

The blonde tried to jerk his wings back, but the ravenette's grip was unrelenting. Zack had been right, these appendages were just as weak and flimsy as wet paper, because a few feathers were easily torn away, and the velvety coating which the feathers were attached to, ripped ever so slightly. When the cadet let out a cry of pain, the Second class immediately let the flimsy protrusions go and they collided with the blood dotted ground with a mighty thunk. Without another moment to linger, the ravenette stopped right beside the blonde's bloody bed.

"Why do you want us to get away from you?" The second class questioned, regaining some of his old nicer tone with the cadet.

"I-" The blonde began, slowly looking up at the ravenette as his once good eye swelled with moisture once more. "-I'm a monster... I'm weak... You don't need to answer my question I guess. There's no way you still love me..." He finished with a croak.

Zack slapped him across his left cheek, _hard._

Cloud was stunned into submission, letting the stinging soak in for only a moment before looking back up at the ravenette with squinted eyes. But those leery eyes instantly softened when he saw the look on his significant other's face. While there was still some burning anger in those eyes, there was near remorse and guilt.

"Don't you _ever_ say that again." He scolded. Yet his voice was weak. There was no confidence behind it. If it was one thing he always had, it was confidence. But even that was gone now.

Cloud's once good eye widened in surprise when he saw what he did. The Second class had a rare kind of glisten to his eyes, a kind of shimmer that makes them look watery and luminous. Then it was painstakingly obvious what that look meant when a few tears slipped from those hurt looking eyes.

"You're not a monster...You're Cloud. You're a human that's just had to live through something so terrifying. You're not weak, you're strong. How have you not shed a single tear for yourself yet? Sure, you've screamed and cried out, but I haven't seen any tears. Plus, you're wrong. I still do love you...I'm just a little shaken up is all. Seeing all that I saw, you and Mr. Quills both, as silly as that last bit sounds..." The ravenette explained, beginning to ramble at the end.

He used his free hand to wipe at his eyes, the other still holding the bloody toy. He had not let go of it once since he picked it up. He offered a small and weak smile, but it was not fake like the others had been. By this time, Xzena had pulled herself up from the floor, complaining how that dried blood stench would never leave her uniform. She ended her comment with a soft laugh that didn't sound all in. Silence felled the three once more as the moments began to sink in.

The moment had then been ruined when an odd laugh belonging only to Hojo echoed in the room...

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_A/N: Annnnd, cut! That's a wrap! :D So, so, how'd you guys like chappie seven? Was it good? I hope it was :p But man, this chappie was just angst out that place where the sun don't shine! It kinda feels like a filter chapter, but it just goes into depth about how the two are feeling about this. I can say for sure, that this story has definitely changed from the original! I basically split chapter three up into four more chapters with more depth and detail! Yeah! :)_

_Anyway, don't forget to leave some feedback for me, I eat it up like cookies! :D but not oatmeal raisin cookies! I don't like those! XD I swear I'm going to get flames for that now X3 If you have any questions, I'll answer 'em! And as always..._

_Until the next brutal chappie, my readers! :3_

_~Zimithrus1_


	8. To Fix What's Broken

_Alrighty, another chapter of Mako Mutations is out and ready to be read! :) To be honest, chapters five, six, and seven were all written up around the same time, I've just never found a good time to upload them all! As you can tell, though XD I will try to work on that in the future, but for now, here's a chappie for all you good boys and girls :)_

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_~XChapter 8: To Fix What's BrokenX~_

The three in the room either turned around, or looked up, whenever that strange laugh had permeated the silence just moments prior. There for all to behold was Hojo, walking into the room with ease. The grotesque sights on the walls for floor having no effect on him. He stopped the by the doorway. His glasses cast a glare across his eyes from the lights above. They were blocked out in that white light, and a slow Cheshire cat grin slithered across his face.

Millie, one of the nurses from earlier, appeared in sight from behind the scientist. She looked towards Xzena, about to speak. The ravenette just looked back at her and shook her head, silently telling her that she was dismissed for the moment. The brunette nodded in understanding and backed out of the room, walking briskly down the hall to disappear out of sight. Silence reigned once more, but this time it was eerie and unwelcome.

"Afternoon to you all." Hojo spoke nonchalantly as he looked up. That glare from the light left from the glasses and his deep brown eyes weren't as comforting.

Zack's eyes narrowed at the scientist. He had never liked him one bit. He was the kind of person that could drill fear into the skulls of the innocent, and even the ruthless. He was the man that even embedded fear into the Great Sephiroth. Which, mind you, was not an easy thing to do. The General was intimidating enough, but to see him even slither back under the gaze of a mere scientist was nothing short of fear itself. Hojo's attention then snapped over to Xzena.

"So. Care to fill me in, _Nurse_?" He asked. His tone seemed light, but behind that thin veil, there was a burning sensation in his eyes that could make you stand and quiver on the spot.

That undertone caused the female ravenette to straighten up, and even her eyes bulged under his gaze. If this was the man that could make the General freeze, he could have his way with anyone he chose. The longer he looked at her, the more uneasy she felt. Before her mouth could even open, she was already intimidated like a cowardice animal under the eyes of a hungry predator.

"Patient is a level eight Mako addict suffering serious signs of mutation in the physical and chemical make-up. Even cellular structure has begun to mutate from what I gather. Blood work tests reviled red blood cell count tripled within the time of his comatose to now. The amount of Mako coursing through his system is twenty-five times stronger than what First Classes are showered with." Xzena's bedside manner was gone and under that scrutinizing gaze, she lost her filter for a patient in trauma.

Hojo looked pleased at her detailed description of the Level Eight's conditions, and he was even more pleased to see her analysis scaring the one in question. His brown eyes snapped away from The female ravenette, and she shrunk back, pressing herself against the wall. She wondered what kind of person could just make her so scared by a look and undertone alone. Her arms then went to hold herself as a shiver racked throughout her body, and her head hung low to avoid anymore looks like that.

Cloud on the other hand, was now under the demanding glare of the deranged scientist. He was terrified enough of how much he had changed, and by the sound of it, was still changing. He too shrunk back away from the man. The only one who hadn't done that was Zack, and now that the quack of a scientist was nearing his significant other, a scowl made its way to his face.

"My, my. It's been quite some time since I've seen a level eight such as yourself. Hmm, I wonder what happened to your arm and eye? Oh, poor thing. You must be...So_ scared_. So _terrified_." Hojo began to spout, nearing his way closer towards the cadet.

The ravenette saw those wings quivering again. They were going to lash out if Hojo got any closer to him. But how would the scientist react? He still sauntered towards the shaking teen, patronizing him and frightening him all at the same time. In a sudden burst of speed, those fleshy coated wings did erupt from their place and straight towards the man. He only stepped out of the way, and only felt the soft brush of a feather across his face. A scoff came from his mouth.

"Is this all you have? Rather disappointing. My last level eight was able to put up _much_ more of a fight." He chided as his bony hands reached up and gripped the wings.

A _squelch_ sound resonated through the room due to the man grabbing a rather fleshy and bloody part of the wing. It was quite the sickening sound that even had the owner of the appendages cringe ever so slightly. Hojo's grip tightened on the wing, squeezing it firmly, and he roughly tugged on it. His eyes were nearly crestfallen when he heard the tiniest _rip_ sound come from them. It made the blonde below him cry out on pain and try to pull his wings away.

"Not only are your wings weak and pathetic, they're brittle. Oh so frail. I wonder; Could I break them on my own?" He rhetorically asked, beginning to tighten the grip on the flimsy appendages. The cadet began to grow frantic in pulling himself away.

"**Hey**! You really need to work on your bedside manner, _Quack_." Zack spoke up with a growl rumbling around in his throat.

Hojo let Cloud's left wing go and he looked towards the Second Class. The projection toppled to the blood dotted ground with a soft _thump_. Instantly, it shot back up and curled itself around the blonde to shield him, as well as the other one. It looked as if the teen had surrounded himself in a feathery, yet fleshy, cocoon. The ravenette took a quick glance at the cadet, but quickly darted back to the scientist when he heard him begin to speak.

"Scientists like myself require no bedside manner. Besides, who are you to tell me what I need? If it wasn't for my idea to shower SOLDIER members with Mako, who knows, you just might not be one." He brought up with a soft sneer at the end of his statement.

"Keep that tone up with me, or Cloud, and I'll deck you all but good." Zack threatened, becoming suddenly irritable with this man. He stood tall and puffed his chest out to look more threatening.

"You do not frighten me, Fair. Touch me even once and I'll see to it that Cadet Strife here is deported back to his hometown as the freak he is right now. Without my assistance, I'm afraid he'll have to walk around with a gaping hole in his head and his insides exposed. So I suggest you listen to me. _Both_ of you." Hojo comanded, no mere threat. It was a promise he could easily fulfill.

That silenced the ravenette, but he did manage to let a little growl of frustration out at Hojo. The scientist brushed it off like nothing and only smugly smirked. He then turned his attention back towards Xzena. The female ravenette had straightened up by now and was no longer shrunk back against the wall. She was a bit leery in the eyes however. Her face was firm now, not going to allow him to frighten her this time.

"As of this moment, I will be in charge of this Cadet's recovery and rehabilitation. You may, however, be his primary physician when the time comes. As of now, demolish your ties to his files and give them to me." Hojo demanded, holding out his hand for emphasis.

"Certainly." Xzena replied with a sneer. "-But I will only allow this under one condition." She added on, pointing and index finger up at the ceiling for her own emphasis.

"Hmm...Hard to bargain with I see. What is your proposition, _Woman_?" The scientist demanded, just as stern as she had spoken before.

"My assistant accompanies the patient for the psychological rehabilitation to make sure he does not shut down for what will follow during his recovery. Do we have a deal, _Professor_?" She asked, a little grin fluttering across her face.

"I see. It would be quite the pain if I had to do it myself. Fine. Your request is accepted. Now go fetch me the files. Your assistant may start coming up to my labs tomorrow with this cadet." Hojo explained, then his eyes shot over to Zack, who felt oddly excluded in the moment.

"Normally, I don't like a multitude of people in my labs, but I fear if you do not accompany your '_Lover_', then he will not oblige to come with me. So. You will be joining us in the labs." He finalized.

Xzena left the room without a word to go and fetch the files from the front desk. Once more, silence took hold of the room. The only noises audible were people from outside in the halls, and the harsh breathing from the incapacitated trooper still wrapped up in his winged cocoon. Even Hojo was silent. Usually he would fill up a room with his ideas to better improve the SOLDIER program or whatever came into his head, but right now, he was silent.

Zack had time to think about all that was going to happen in the future. How would Cloud be able to achieve his dream of becoming a First Class if something like this had left him, well, lacking? Really thinking about things, how would he be able to do any rudimentary skill needed for daily living? Life had just suddenly got about ten times harder for him than it already was. How would he be able to help him now? Even though it didn't happen to him, he still felt effected by it. How would he be able to comfort the blonde now? It made him feel so sad.

Xzena returned with said files from earlier. She approached Hojo and held out the creamy tan folder with all of Cloud's information inside. The professor took it without a word or thanks. The nurse scowled at him, but knew that was all she could do. She took her leave quickly, storming out of the room and nearly bumping into Amanda, another one of her colleagues. The blonde had brought the janitorial department to the room and pointed at the door. The three inside knew they could not stay any longer.

"Come along. We're going." Hojo stated, beginning to make his way out of the room.

Zack's gaze turned towards the bed where Cloud was. He had still kept himself curled up in his dirty wings for protection from the outside world, it seemed. He could still hear the shallow breaths from the cadet. Even though he had heard Hojo, he made no move to get up or go. By this time, the dried blood smell was beginning to become more strong and nauseating. It was as if the room itself was telling them to leave. The ravenette approached the dirty looking cocoon, kneeling beside it and resting his arms on the rails of the bed.

"Come on, Cloud. Time to go." He pressed, hoping to coax the blonde inside to even shift a little bit.

No such luck.

With a hesitant hand, he reached up and gently brushed his gloved hand across a large golden feather. Even through his glove, he could tell the feathers were matted up due to the dried blood and decaying loose skin around them. The cocoon tightened around the blonde, trying to escape a gentle touch; Even from the one he loved. Zack tried once again to coax the cadet out of submission. This time, he removed his glove, pausing only to look at the slight fuisha tint of his hand from bloodshed about thirty minutes ago.

Using his bare hand, he brushed across the same long feathers again. Calloused fingers gently traced each feather as delicately as possible. The cocoon loosened some, and a few feathers spread apart to reveal the blonde's one good eye. It was caked with dried tears and mucus in the corner of his eye. The sky blue had been dulled due to obvious moisture and his bloodshot veins.

"There you are." Zack softly spoke, a gentle smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

He used his ungloved hand to reach up through the gap in the shield of feathers and gently touch the cadet's face. At first, Cloud cringed from the touch and scrunched his eyelids shut. When he had realized he would not be harmed, they slowly pried themselves open, more moisture swelling behind his only eye. He face leaned further against the warmth of the ravenette's hand, but he remained silent.

"We have to go now. The room's gotta be cleaned up sometime today." Zack spoke, a bit of a joking manner at the end.

Cloud gently pivoted his face further into the ravenette's hand, planting a gentle kiss on his palm once, then leaning against it once more. A tear slipped out of his good eye, and his feathery shield began to fall. The wings gently pulled away from his lithe body to rest behind him. His left wing gently brushed across the Second Class's face. The feathers went under his nose and his face screwed up as he tried not to sneeze. When he looked back at the blonde, there was a small -yet real- smile on his face.

"Sometime today would be nice. Let's go!" Hojo barked from the doorway, ruining the tender moment.

Cloud quickly pulled his face away from Zack's hand, his one eye widening and he pulled away in fear. His wings were on the offensive again, ready to strike, or shield him away again. Quick to act, the ravenette got up from his knelt position, then threw his arms around the blonde, making sure not to crush him or his mighty wings. He almost cried right then and there when he felt only one arm return his embrace.

"I wonder what this is?" A new voice spoke up. It was soft and quiet, almost as if a simple zephyr could blow it away and it would remain unheard.

"And you are?" The voice of Hojo demanded as Zack let Cloud go only enough to see who was now at the door.

The woman looked young, maybe about eighteen tops. She had this bright red hair on her head. It was neatly styled upon the top, but towards the bangs that fell right in her face, they were disheveled as if they were oily. Her red hair was short in the back, and was styled just like a boy-cut. She had eyes of ice blue that rivaled even the clearest of morning skies in winter. In her small yet slender hands, she held the dried bloody form of Mr. Quills. The ravenette must have dropped him earlier and forgotten to pick him up.

"Camille Greyson. I'm Xzena's assistant to oversee the psychological rehabilitation for Cloud. She sent me down here, said it was a gut feeling. Anyway, what happened to this little guy? And who does he belong to?" The young woman introduced as she observed the toy in her arms.

"He's mine. I must have dropped him or something." Zack spoke up softly, still keeping Cloud wrapped up in his arms.

"Looks like he needs a bath then." Camille giggled, obviously aware that blood was staining the toy. She chose not to be negative, but positive instead.

"Stuffed toy, Psycho-_Whatever_, I don't care! Let's get going now, before I really loose my patience!" Hojo growled, tapping his foot impatiently.

Amanda was quietly waiting by the door with the janitors. They were as patient as could be. The blonde woman even had a soft smile on her face. Although the three behind her were in astonishment at the mess of blood all over the walls and floor. One of them groaned, complaining how it would take a lot of bleach to clean this place up. The one next to him just smacked him upside the head, stating how he didn't understand the situation and he should just keep quiet.

Zack turned his attention away from the lively group by the front door and back to Cloud. By this point in time, he had let the blonde out of his arms, but had his ungloved hand held out for the younger teen to take. The cadet just stared at it silently, his one good hand beginning to fidget as he debated weither or not to take a hold. He was scared to leave this room, unsure of what would happen once they made it to Hojo's lab. Scared of what other people would think of him if they saw him like he was now.

"You're going to be alright. I promise." Zack coaxed, offering a soft smile for his significant other.

Cloud stared for another moment before finally pulling his hand up. He gently placed it within the ravenette's own. With that, he was gently pulled to his feet. The blonde staggered, immediately loosing balance and crashing into the solid form of the Second Class, which hurried to steady him out. Camille flashed him a look, silently asking if he needed help. The eighteen-year old shook his head and fished her out a smile for reassurance.

"Burning daylight, gentlemen." Hojo pressured, less snappy than before, but sounding more annoyed.

At Hojo's words, Cloud tightly squeezed Zack's hand. He was utterly afraid of this man. He had heard stories that the other cadets had spoken about. He had only caught glimpses of them, but what he did hear managed to make him shake. He heard that he could make Turks and cadets just disappear without a trace, and no one would ever know where to look. It was rumored that he would perform experiments on just about anyone without a tinge of remorse.

The blonde felt his own hand being lightly squeezed, and when he looked up, the ravenette was smiling reassuringly at him. How? How could he still smile at him after what he had seen? Why was he not afraid of him? But regardless, he still smiled at him, held onto him, even after all he had seen. It's no wonder why he was a Second Class, he was so strong and confident. So selfless and giving, willingly pushing aside his own thoughts and feelings for those he truly cared for. He might even kill someone close to him if they asked and begged him enough to do it.

"Come on." Zack tenderly spoke, gently pulling on the blonde's hand so he would take a step. He still wore a smile on his face.

Cloud was able to start walking with the ravenette's help and hand. Hojo grumbled something about taking too long in the first place, and that valuable time had been lost just sitting around like that. The scientist had led the way out of the room and towards the back of the infirmary wing, through a set of hidden doors that not many, the blonde included, knew about. There was a control panel beside the door, and Hojo began to quickly type a very intricate set of numbers. Within seconds, the doors slid open with a soft click and _woosh_ sound.

"This is a secret elevator I use to come to the medical wing. It leads directly to my labs. Quite convenient indeed." Hojo spoke aloud, not caring if he was heard or not.

It was a spacious elevator with plenty of room to hold at least five people. It looked more extravagant than the ones in the lobby. Even as the group of four ascended in the steel box, the blonde never let go of his significant other's hand. It was quite silent throughout the duration of the ride to floor sixty-eight. It was not too far off from the medical floor. Within a few more second of silence reigning over anything else, the door slid open noiselessly. Hojo was the first to step out and lead the way.

Cloud didn't like the looks of this place. It smelled like antiseptic and something foul in an undertone or what-not. It was rather dark in this room, with only a few lights here and there to bathe the room in spots of fluorescent yellow. However, the further they went, the brighter it got. There were a few lights besides another looking elevator. Yet it looked less extravagant and more run-down. It even had a foul smell, as if things had died on the rickety looking thing and it was never properly cleaned.

They ended up taking that elevator up towards the upper floor of Hojo's lab. The blonde thought it would bust under their combined weight, even though most of these people didn't weigh that much. Excluding Zack, for he was six foot one and had to at least be one hundred and seventy pounds or so. The second floor had been much brighter, and more sterile smelling. There were some examining tables here and there, as well as certain medical instruments and strange machines. It even housed two weird looking tubes that were currently unoccupied and empty.

"Strife. Sit here." Hojo directed, pointing to one of the examining tables. There was a brighter light turned on right above it that looked more white, rather than fluorescent yellow.

At that, Zack dropped Cloud's hand, then gave him another smile to comfort him. He watched the blonde slowly walk over to the table and sit himself down on the edge. His wings were draped behind him, framing the rest of the table delicately. His right arm went back to gripping the chunk of decayed skin and muscle where his left arm should have been. Really taking a look at him in this kind of lighting made him look more horrific than before.

The dried blood that had once been a scarlet red had dried into a murky brown color around his face and covering the left side of his body. There was still splashes of bright red around his right eye socket, seeing how the eyeball itself was completely gone. Even the optic nerve was gone as well. What little bits of his wings that were not stained a murky red color or covered in loose chunks of flesh, those feathers were pure gold, yet at the root to the velvety coating in which they were connected to, that was a brilliant white.

He looked beautiful when broken.

"Alright...Let's get this over with, shall we?" Hojo inquired rhetorically as he neared Cloud with a few medical instruments and a large needle, accompanied by rags and a black piece of cloth.

* * *

A/N: Annnnnd that's where I'm ending this little number! XD Oooh, that's right, another lovely cliffhanger for you people! What can I say? I love em! ;P But I have a feeling if I keep doing this to you that you'll all rally together and beat the living stuffing out of me! XD

Anyhow, don't forget to leave some feedback for me to digest! (If I keep this up, I'll make myself hungry, or become a chef :D) If you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them! And as always...

Until the next brutal chappie my fair readers!

Toodles!  
~Zimithrus1


	9. When the Strong Break

_Alrighty-roo! Chapter nine of our revised Mako Mutations is here! Took me long enough, huh? XD There's only one thing to put to blame for that: Procrastination! Yes, that's right, flat out nothing X3 Anyways, I'll end this up here so you guys can see what's simmering down below!_

* * *

_~XChapter 9: When the Strong BreakX~_

Cloud was still frightened as ever of Hojo. Even though the scientist had nothing up his sleeve or ill intentions other than to clean and stitch him up, the blonde (whose hair had grown whiter in color as time past, yet still retained some natural yellow) backed away from the professor every time he neared him with a water dampened rag. The brunette was obviously growing irritated at a quick and unsteady rate, and his irritation could be seen through his eyes.

Every time Hojo got close enough to dab at the blood on the cadet, his blood stained and flesh choked wings would quickly shoot out and create a barrier between the professor and himself. Once his shield was up, he'd pull his head back, close his good eye, and grip the nub of skin and muscle where his left arm had once been located. He still would not utter a sound or speak even a single word. He hadn't said anything since the infirmary, when he had stated that he was a monster. Camille and Zack watched the futile endeavour from the sidelines.

The red-head physcologist was seated on a spare examination table, legs draped over the sides as her hands were gingerly folded in her black skirted lap. A bloodied Mr. Quills rested beside her. The ravenette was leaning against a vacant wall to the left side of his significant other. His arms were folded across his chest, and his right foot propped up behind him, pressing into the cool steel of the wall behind him while his left leg was used as his anchor for balance. He watched the interaction between the blonde and the scientist silently from his spot.

After what seemed to be five minutes, Hojo let out a shrill cry that sounded more like the scream of an angry driver with road rage. It startled Cloud and caused the ever changing blonde to shield himself behind his ever defiled wings, and even made Zack and Camille jump ever so slightly, distant eyes resurfacing to the present once more. The brunette tossed the water-soaked rag to the side, next to Cloud's left leg. He grumbled out a few profanities, but those murky brown eyes quickly snapped over at the Second Class currently occupying the vacant wall.

"You clean him up!" Hojo demanded, not even giving the ravenette time to say anything before he stormed off, disappearing behind a steel door that led to another room in his lab.

Childish snorting and restrained chuckles could be heard from Camille as she tried to keep composure. Her right hand quickly covered up her mouth as she held back the bite of contagious laughter. In order to keep her thoughts from laughter, she scooped the bloodied stuffed toy of the ravenette's and was able to snicker out that she was going to clean him up in one of the sinks on the other side of the lab. With that, she hopped off the examination table and scurried off towards the sinks, still suppressing thick chortles.

There was a soft, yet playful, scoff from Zack as he used his black clad hands to push himself from the wall and make his way over to his significant other. Cloud pulled his golden wings away from his face and watched the ravenette move, watched every step he took with his one good eye.

"Guess it's just you and me for now, huh, Cloudy?" The SOLDIER spoke up when he had stopped right in front of the mutated cadet, just two feet away to give the younger teen some space.

His words were greeted with silence from the incapacitated cadet. His one good eye quickly broke contact with the ravenette's just as quick as it had been connected. His irritated Mako blue eye just stared down at his clammy hand in his lap. He even hung his head down and had his bangs hide away his face. Zack softly shrugged, then picked up the discarded wet rag by the blonde's side. There were two other rags on a small medical table to the left of the trooper, and even a small bowl of water.

Feeling the cool rag growing a bit dry, the ravenette tenderly dunked the white fluffy rag into the small bowl of water, gently swirling it around for a few seconds before removing it from the little pool. He used both of his gloved hands to wring out the excess water so it would not drip. With a delicate grip, he gently cupped his left hand under Cloud's chin and softly raised his head to meet with his own electric blue eyes.

The ever changing blonde's only eye rolled away from the face of his significant other and towards the left, where they remained stationary. Knowing he could not get the seventeen year old to look at him, Zack only proceeded to wipe the blood off the cadet's face. He started below his missing right eye, gently running the wet rag across the soft flesh carefully. The fresher blood came off with a wipe or two, but the caked on substance had to be rubbed at a little firmer than just a soft glide.

"Does this hurt? I'll ease up a bit if it does." The Second Class asked after he had wiped a bit of dried blood from under the blonde's missing eye.

He did not receive a verbal response, but was only given a soft shake of the head. It caused the ravenette's own left hand to move with the trooper's face, since he still had a gentle hold on his chin to keep him from looking down again. Silence engulfed the two as Zack continued to clean up Cloud's milky white face. A faucet could be heard from the distance where Camille was currently washing up Mr. Quills. Save for that, it was quiet as ever.

Once the ravenette finished cleaning up the blonde's face, he took a quick glance at the rag. It was stained pink from the old blood, and had spots of dark maroon, and splashes of vibrant red in certain spots. He removed his left hand from the cadet's face, and much to his surprise, he did not hang his head down. His good eye actually began to keep steadier contact with his significant other. Direct eye contact would have him swiftly look away though.

Zack gently dipped the dirtied rag into the bowl of water and twirled it around. The once clear water was dyed a soft pink color from the old blood that had soaked into the rag. After a few more moments of swirling, he pulled the pink-tinted rag out of the water and wrang it out once more. He turned his electric blue eyes to inspect the rest of the blonde, just to see where he needed to clean up next. He had a few splotches of blood on his neck, so he went ahead and wiped the blood away, leaving behind pale and unblemished skin.

Zack faltered and hesitated for a moment when it was time to wipe down Cloud's left shoulder. He had finally removed his hand from the area moments prior, but if anything, the sight just seemed more gruesome. Most of the internal muscles had withered up and receded back. The nerves were still wedged deep inside, and thankfully for everyone, were not hanging out of the huge chunk of missing limb.

The ravenette hesitated, leaving the wet rag hovering over the blonde's shoulder. He was scared to wipe away the blood here. He was terrified that if he got too close to the hole in his shoulder, the rag might accidentally brush against his insides and cause him pain. Not only that, he had a problem with seeing the insides of his lover exposed and venerable like that. With a deep and steadying breath, he gently ran the rag over the top of the seventeen year old's shoulder.

He made sure to steer clear of the gaping hole where his arm used to be, but just cleaned up the blood around it. To clean most of the blood, he had to further tear the blonde's bloodied hospital gown even move than it already was. It caused the teen to blush and turn his head away. That's when the ravenette realized that the blonde was not wearing any undergarments, and if he ripped too far down, he'd probably embarrass the cadet.

Once Zack had finished wiping the blood away from Cloud's shoulder, he had to change out the rag with a fresher one. The other was dyed more of a red color now, and was no longer as clean as it was. Then he had to move on to his back, which was splattered with blood, soaked even through the flimsy and tore up gown. In the end, the blonde's hospital gown was ripped in almost every conceivable place and exposing most of his back and torso.

The teen still remained silent through the entire cleansing. He still did not speak or utter one sound. By the time Zack had finished cleaning his significant other up, his skin was back to that pale color it used to be. The only part of the blonde that remained defiled with blood were his wings. Yet the ravenette did not clean them because he had ran out of clean towels. All three had been soaked and saturated with aging water and old blood.

By this time, Camille had come back from the sink in the back with a clean and fluffy Mr. Quills. He hadn't looked so good in ages, but that's probably because he was hardly ever given a good scrub down due to age. She paused beside Zack and Cloud, a tender smile on her face as she held out the old toy.

"Good as new! I had to be careful so his fur wouldn't fall out. He got a nice towel dry too." She explained, her tone light and bouncy to keep the atmosphere from drooping and growing dim.

Much to the surprise of the Second Class and the Psychologist, Cloud reached out and took the stuffed toy into his own hands. He pulled it close to his chest, cuddled and tucked securely in his arm. The faintest smile pulled at the corners of his lips and he hugged it tenderly, more than likely relieved that the toy hadn't been damaged permanently.

"Wow, I think you like Mr. Quills more than I do." Zack playfully spoke up, grinning softly.

The old toy was then handed back to the correct owner. That's when Hojo appeared back in the main lab. In his hand, he had a ball of Cura Materia. He rolled it around in his fingers as he approached. He only stopped rolling the ball around when he stopped walking. He stood a few feet away from Cloud, yet his eyes observed each person in the room before locking onto the blonde's.

Without a word, he held up the orb and cast the curing spell, casting a mint green glow all around the room and danced like green shadows across the steel walls and floors. The Second Class was surprised. He didn't think the professor could even use Materia. A silly thought though, he Was a scientist after all.

Cloud's missing arm began to mend. The flesh stretched across the gaping hole and fused together, much like sowing two sheets of fabric together. His eye was left alone though, if the skin had mended over his eyelids, it would have been like he was born without a right eye. Surprisingly enough, the Cura spell even took care of the loose flesh and stained blood on the blonde's golden wings. A bright and comforting aura seemed to swell around them once the defiled blood had been removed. It was a sight that had the Second Class breathless. Even Camille had been at a loss for words.

The minty green light dissipated as the spell finally worked it's magic and tapered away. Cloud's eyes looked over to where his left arm used to be, surprise evident on his face when he realized the wound had been completely healed. He retained that expression, even as Hojo began to speak again.

"For his eye, just use this plain black cloth as an eyepatch." He directed to Zack, holding out his hand with the silky strand of material in his left hand.

"Alright, sure." The ravenette responded as he took the strand of fabric offered to him.

He approached the examination table that Cloud was still occupying. The cadet's good eye watched the eighteen year old move around the table, then pull himself up to sit right behind him. He had his carefree smile on his face to comfort the younger teen in front of him. His smile was only returned with a tiny grin from the blonde. The ravenette scootched himself right behind the trooper, legs dangling over the side of the table while he momentarily set his stuffed hedgehog beside him.

"Sit still while I put this on, 'kay?" Zack requested kindly as he brought the black cloth over Cloud's head.

His words were greeted with silence one more, but the ravenette did not mind this time. He pulled himself up onto his knees and hovered above the blonde, making sure he didn't pin his golden wings against his significant other's back painfully. They just draped to either side and framed the exam table delicately. The longest feathers gently scraped across the cool steel of the floor below them.

The Second Class peered over the impossible spikes of his lover's whitening hair and gently draped the strip of cloth over the blonde's missing right eye. He made sure to angle it just right so it could cover up the hole in his head and be brought back around and tied nice and snug behind his head. Once he tightened the cloth and tied the knot, his right hand ruffled the light white blonde locks below him in a playful and affectionate manner. A huge and bright smile came to his face when he heard the faintest laughter come from his other half.

Unable to resist it, he gently wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist, snuggling his face against the back of his neck tenderly when he had pulled himself back down to sit on his knees. He heard a soft scoff from Hojo, and he could hear the professor begin to walk away.

"I suggest you find some new clothes for Strife. You are dismissed, so hurry and leave." He grumbled, disappearing once more, well knowing he wasn't going to return until the three in question left.

"Ah, before I forget, I'd like to start penciling Cloud in for some mental rehabilitation sessions at my office, would that be alright?" Camille brought up on a whim, before the two teens could take their leave.

"Well, that's more up to him than me." Zack responded truthfully, pulling away from Cloud as he hopped off the examination table, making sure to grab his stuffed animal from the table. So he wouldn't loose him, he shoved him into his left pants pocket.

The blonde did not move an inch for a moment, but soon nodded his head softly. He too got down from the exam table, albeit a bit awkwardly from sitting for so long. The cadet quickly scurried to his lover's side, then used his right hand and clung onto the ravenette's uniform shirt. He looked at Camille, then his significant other, than back to the red head again. Attempting to communicate with his eyes.

"You want Zack to accompany you, don't you?" The nineteen year old inquired with a delicate smile forming on her face.

Cloud nodded his head, and a tiny grin even pulled at his lips a bit.

"Alright, what day would work for the both of you? I want to see him at least once a week." The psychologist asked, tenderly crossing her arms over her chest comfortably.

"Well, we both have Tuesdays and Fridays off, which day works better for you?" Zack asked, faintly smiling when he felt Cloud rest his head against his chest.

"Tuesdays are fine with me. Well, how about next week at three-thirty?" Camille suggested, using her hands for emphasis.

"That will work. See you next Tuesday, then." Zack responded.

With that, the three left the lab and went their own ways from there. Well, Only Camille split from the group. Zack and Cloud decided to figure out what to do next in the comfort of the ravenette's apartment on the fifty-first floor. While the two were approaching the elevator, the ravenette noticed that the cadet beside him was growing oddly squeamish all of a sudden. His good eye was darting back and forth, as if he was being watched. The Second Class was confused by his behavior.

"Cloud, are you alright?" Zack asked, concern laced tenderly in his voice as his Mako eyes locked onto the blonde's only one.

"..." The blonde did not respond. He quickly broke eye contact from the taller teen and began to nervously glance about the hall leading to the elevator.

"You act like someone's watching..."The ravenette began, but his voice quickly faded to nothing when he realized why the mutated blonde was acting so squirrely.

He stopped walking abruptly, leaving Cloud to continue walking on, only stopping when he realized that the SOLDIER was not next to him. His good eye looked back at the onyx haired man in a perpetual kind of understanding. His eye stopped darting all around, and had now settled upon the Second class as he slightly shifted his body to face him more.

"-You don't want people to see you." Zack spoke softly, suddenly beginning to loose some of his own confidence just realizing this.

Cloud nodded his head, still keeping silent. He locked his hands behind his back and slouched as he stood, still keeping his only eye on the ravenette. The Second Class hung his head down slightly, staring at the tiled floor underneath his feet. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and kept quiet, his fingers on his right hand occupied themselves by fiddling with the small shags of fur from Mr. Quills subconsciously.

It had been an old habit he had picked up on many years ago a a child. He stood there for a few moments, unmoving. When the blonde took a step forward towards his significant other, the onyx haired man broke into stride quickly, making his way toward the elevator. Cloud's good eye followed his quick strides, wondering what the ravenette's problem was. All of a sudden he just grew distant.

The cadet turned on his heel and quickly followed the Second Class to the elevator. The eighteen year old punched the down button without a word or sound. The steel doors opened and a soft ding resonated through the hall, signaling that the doors had indeed opened up. The two stepped inside, both of them being deadly silent. The only difference now is that the SOLDIER looked more down-trodden than the mutated infantryman.

The ever changing blonde looked at older teen, his own eye displaying concern. He even reached out his only hand and gently locked it within his lover's. Even that notion went unnoticed in the deathly silence. His eyes didn't even look towards the cadet, not even a forlorn glance. He kept those storming blue eyes locked onto the ground as the elevator continued to descend.

Soon, the large steel box stopped moving, and the doors slid open with another soft ding. Zack looked up and scanned the hall. No one was in sight. Most of the other SOLDIER's were probably on missions right about now, it was a Wednesday afternoon after all. The ravenette hastily moved from the elevator and down the hall, eyes now locking to his own apartment room as he power-walked towards it.

Cloud swiftly followed, doing his best to keep at an even stride next to the taller teen. His large wings brushed against the tile ground, and his ever ripped gown was hardly even covering his lithe frame anymore. Mostly, it was only covering his unaffected arm and everything waist down.

The two paused by a door near the end of the hall on the right side. There was a red light next to a small card scanner, signaling that the door was locked. Zack fished out a keycard from the depths of his pocket and swiped it where it needed to be. The light changed from red to green, and a soft click was heard from inside, signaling that the front door had been unlocked.

The two stepped into the dark room, Cloud entering it first. The ravenette had flicked on a light switch located by the front door, and the living room was washed in fluorescent light. No windows were in the living room. There was only one window and it was in the bedroom, giving him a nice areal view of Midgar every morning. The onyx haired man briskly walked ahead of the blonde, pausing by the large plush brown couch. He removed Mr. Quills from his pocket and set him on the couch and then disappeared down the hall towards the bathroom.

"I'll be in the bathroom. You should probably find some decent clothes to wear. Think I have an old shirt you can cut up and use." He said all in one breath from the hall. As soon as he stopped talking, he shut the bathroom door.

Seconds later, Cloud heard the faucet start running. He was going to go to the bedroom to find better clothes, but his concern and curiosity for Zack had detoured him towards the closed wooden door of the bathroom. He paused right in front of it, but he could heard nothing over the faucet. He carefully leaned his right ear against the door, straining his ears to detect any sounds other than running water. His own heart seized in his chest when he heard a quiet sob.

He pulled his ear away from the door, still able to hear the quiet sobbing from the ravenette inside. Without a sound, the blonde sunk down to the tan carpeted floor below him, sitting on his knees and folding his wings to drape on either side of him so he wouldn't sit on them. The Second Class's sobs grew a bit louder than before, they sounded more like drawled breaths and moans than actual cries. The cadet had never heard the eighteen year old cry before; Ever. It was the worst sound he had ever heard in his life. But, why Was he crying?

_"I'm sorry..."_ He heard Zack moan from the other side of the door.

Sorry? Why was he sorry? He hadn't done anything that needed apologizing. subconsciously, Cloud put his right hand against the wood door, as if that alone could send some comfort the ravenette's way. It was a useless gesture in the end. He still kept sobbing, and if anything, his cries seemed to have grown louder than they were before.

"I'm sorry... That I wasn't strong enough to save you in time. It's my fault you ended up looking like you do. It's my fault... If only I had been stronger..." Zack moaned once more.

"...Zack." Cloud tenderly spoke, gently pressing his forehead against the door. Somehow, he just felt guilty...

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A/N: And there's chapter nine for you all, hope you guys liked it! :) Sorry it took me so long to get this posted by the way! Hopefully I can have the next chapter out and up soon!

Please leave some nummy feedback for me to munch on! It would be much appreciated!

Until the next brutal chappie, my fair readers! :D

Sayonara!  
~Zimithrus1


	10. Self-Medicate

Woah! Sorry it's been so long you guys, but I'm finally back with chapter 10 of Mako Mutations! Life has been _very _hectic and crazy for me as of late. I won't go into details here, but for the curious, just check out my profile under 'Life Update'. With that, here's chapter 10! Enjoy! :)

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~XChapter 10: Self-MedicateX~

Zack did _not _like feeling this way. He felt numb, cold, broken in a way. Even though those hideous mutations didn't even happen _to _him, he still felt like they might has well have been. He was curled up on the bathroom floor, back resting against the cold porcelain bathtub as he hugged his knees. He stared down at the tan caulking in between each white floor tile. He still left the faucet running. It would probably make the water bill sky-rocket, but right now, he just didn't give a damn.

His eyes were glazed over, like he wasn't even seeing past the over-haze. Right now, the only thing going through his head way the way that Cloud had transformed only a mere three hours ago. Hard to believe that all that had happened within one single day. It felt like weeks had dragged by, but they had not. He blinked once, slowly. He pictured Cloud screaming, pictured his arm ripping out of its' socket. He pictured his eye bursting out of his socket, pictured the wings unfurling from his back.

Why did that have to happen to _Cloud? _Out of all the people in Shin-Ra, out of all the people in the world, it was _his _beloved. The fates were cruel indeed. Maybe he should start reading LOVELESS now. He quietly scoffed that thought away. Then his memories returned to repeating the blonde's horrific transformation. The faucet wasn't even helping drown out his thoughts anymore. Nothing was helping, nothing was detouring his mind from the blonde and his experience. He just wished he had been strong enough to keep this all from happening.

Sitting in the bathroom and leaving the faucet on wasn't going to solve anything. Especially when talking about the matter of the water payment. He slowly eased himself back up on his feet, keeping his head down. He dragged himself towards the sink and shut off the cold water that was steadily flowing. It stopped after a few small drips. A heavy sigh escaped past his lips and he ran his black-clad hands through his rather oily hair.

He couldn't stay here right now. Not with Cloud here. Right now, he didn't even have enough confidence to look the blonde in his only blue eye. He just needed to forget about everything for awhile, to just get it all out and feel numb. He'd rather feel completely numb then sad or broken. At least when you were numb your thoughts weren't completely out of your control.

His right hand slowly grasped the bathroom doorknob. With a soft clockwise twist, the lock clicked out of place and allowed the door to be pushed open with no effort. The ravenette shut off the light and left the brown wooden door open. Now all of a sudden he wished his head was up. As he kept it down, he saw Cloud there, napping against the wall.

His good eye was closed, thin lips barely parted as he breathed in through his mouth. His only arm was folded in his lap as his back was slouched against the plaster wall. His wings were pinned behind his back and against the wall, but were given enough slack to drape his sides without being crushed painfully. He was still in those tattered rags that were once hospital clothes.

And Zack couldn't stand looking at him.

With a soft snort through his nose that almost sounded like the most choked back whimper, the ravenette swept past the living room and towards the front door. He gripped the doorknob in his right hand and twisted it. The door opened without a creak or any other kind of sound. He slipped through without sound and shut it in the same silent fashion behind him. Another sigh escaped from his parted and rather dry lips. He licked them to moisten them for a moment.

With heavy steps and lack of motivation, he made his way to the elevator, pressing the button that would take him down to the lobby. The steel doors opened up without hesitation and allowed Zack to step inside and make himself at home, almost. He punched the button on the panel labeled 'lobby'. The steel doors slowly slid closed and the metallic box began to descend slowly. The ravenette's rather empty Mako eyes caught themselves in a stare at the floor numbers, watching them count down the closer they got to the lobby.

51...50...49...48.

The numbers looked less mechanical, more realistic.

47...46...45...44.

They looked more like thick liquid, almost wanting to drip out of place. He squinted, trying to determine if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

43...42...41...40.

The numbers were indeed dripping and leaking now. The liquid was thicker than it had once been. It oozed slowly, almost looking like...

39...38...37...36.

Blood. The numbers were dripping blood. Zack stepped back in the box, backing into the wall behind him.

35...34...33...32.

It was starting to spill all over the floor, roam around the steel coating, continue dripping. The numbers were hardly recognizable by now. They were so blurred together and so streaked that the ravenette could barely tell what bloody floor they were going to next.

31...30...29...28.

The blood was starting to billow around the floor now, coming closer to touching his boots. Coming closer to swallow him whole.

27...26...25...24.

He couldn't take it! The every single crack and crevice was starting to ooze and drip blood. Even the wall behind him was starting to feel all warm and sticky. It was suffocating. Maddening. Horrifying. He didn't know what to do as he felt the blood begin to pool around the bottoms of his boots.

23...22...21...20.

It started to crawl up his ankles, grabbing at him and his clothes entirely. Everywhere he looked was covered in thick scarlet red. Only the bleary blood-blurred numbers could still be seen near the top right hand side of the elevator. When would this end? Was he going crazy? Or as this actually happening?

19...18...17...16.

Why? Why couldn't this accursed elevator move any faster!? The blood was already trying to gnaw at his kneecaps. It just continued to fill, never draining or finding a way out. Was he going to suffocate and drown in blood? Or his own madness that was probably the cause of this hallucination. But it just seemed to real to be fake...What to think...What to do?

15...14...13...12.

He was so close! He was just a few more floors away until he would reach the lobby! The blood was up to his waist now. It was thick, he felt sticky from the waist down. This was insufferable and he didn't know why it was happening!

11...10...9...8.

The blood was up to his chest now. Swarming, devouring, encroaching.

7...6...5...4.

The blood was up to his chin now. If he had to wait any longer, he'd drown in this disgusting metalic smelling substance!

3...2...1...Lobby!

The doors opened with a soft ding. Zack all but threw himself out of the bloody elevator, the illusion disappearing as he set foot in the spacious lobby. He turned on his heel to look back inside the elevator. It was empty. It was clean. There were no traces of blood or any evidence of any kind of leakage. The ravenette rubbed his eyes with the heels of his black-clad palms. He really felt like he was going to loose his marbles if he couldn't get this off his mind soon.

The elevator doors slid shut silently. The ravenette could have sworn the silent doors had mocked him with the way they closed without huss or fuss. Moving on, he began to walk towards the front door, glad to be out soon. Cool night air greeted him as he stepped outside. The sky above was obsidian black, but there were no twinkling stars out tonight. The moon was very far away in the sky, almost being too far away to see from where he stood now.

A soft wind blew past and ruffled up his hair and clothes, washing away panicked sweat from earlier. Getting out of the company, even for just this little reprieve was already doing him good. With a destination set in his head, he began to walk his way there. The place he was going to go was just a little ways away from the sector eight plaza. A nice dimly lit bar where he used to go as a third class when rigorous training just seemed to give him too much stress. Now here he was, running to that place again for temporary relief. Well, some was better than none in the end.

The night was silent and still, save for the bubbling water that could be heard in sector eight's fountain. It was soothing to hear the soft gurgling sound as he walked across the steel under his boots. He tilted his head back and allowed a playful breeze to blow away lingering sweat and dry off the back of his neck. The way he wind hit the sweat cooled him down, almost like he had poured a small amount of cold water over his back. It was almost refreshing in a way.

He ambled on through the early night. Suddenly, he hoped Cloud would be okay at his flat on his own. He shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with his left index finger and thumb. The blonde was asleep right now. He was sure to be fine. Zack suddenly came to a stop when a shabby looking building came into his line of sight. Yup, this was the place.

It was a little hole-in-the-wall bar. There was never much clientele or baristas for that matter. The appearance and location might be a bit rundown and out of the way, but the drinks they served here were not only delicious, but potent. Being a Second class, it was _very _hard for him to get intoxicated. It usually took about two whole bottles of everclear before he'd start feeling something. Here, he'd only need to drink a couple long island iced teas and maybe a jello shot or two and he'd be wasted for the night.

He opened up the front door and wandered in. The atmosphere was dim and smokey, like a poker hall or what-not. There was a scratched up pool table and an out of order jukebox on the right side of the small shambled building. There were a few tables and chairs scattered about here and there, but the ravenette by-passed them all and headed straight for the bar.

A young man was there, black spiky hair that looked much like his own, only shorter and more kept than his own sat atop his head. A thin mustache and five o' clock stubble traced his jawline and upper lip. His eyes were a dull brown, like stale chocolate cake. He had the standard bar uniform on: Nice white shirt, loose necktie and black slacks. He even housed a monocle over his right eye.

"Evening, Sonny. What can I start you out with?" The deep voiced man asked.

"Long island iced tea and a jello shot." Zack responded back, taking a seat at the stool situated in front of the bar tender and beer tap.

The hefty man nodded once and turned on his heel, grabbing a couple bottles of alcohol from the shelves. He then walked over to the side to grab the other necessary ingredients to make the requested beverages. The ravenette heavily sighed again, raking his black-clad hands through his oily hair once more.

_'Cloud...Hopefully after tonight I'll be able to start looking you in the eye without feeling ashamed of myself...' _Zack thought to himself.

Then when he got his specified drinks, he chugged them without a second thought and told the bar tender to keep them coming until the early hours of the following day.

A/N: Short filler chapter is short filler XD Yeah, sorry I made this chapter all short n' stuff, but I figured I could take the time to toy around with Zack and make him feel a little crazy and all self-doubty, ahh, I'm so mean to him! X3

Well, I hope you guys liked it, even though it _was _filler, I know a lot of people don't like it all that much! Heck, I'll be lucky if this chapter is even over 1,000 words! Well, don't forget to leave me some feedback, okay?

Until the next chapter my lovelies!

Toodle-oo!

~Zimithrus1

(PS: I figured this chapter would be about 11 KB long, but I was wrong! It was _13! ahah! XD_)


	11. Cope

Guten Tag everyone! Yes, I did just say 'good day' in German XD I figured this story could use an update since it's been a cool few months now. It didn't come out sooner because I was a bad noodle and procrastinated! *Smacks self with wiggly pool noodle* Anyways, I'll let you guys get to reading! Enjoy! :)

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~XChapter 11: CopeX~

Cloud's single eye of soft indigo slowly cracked open. His vision was blurred as he awoke from his sudden slumber. He had to use his right arm to reach across his face to rub at his left eye, knowing the left arm was long gone. The entire flat was dark and cool, a steady dripping from the kitchen faucet _plinked_ slowly and provided background noise. There was a soft ticking sound from the living room clock, seeming to become more loud with each passing tick and tock.

The blonde turned his head to the left, then to the right. The entire flat was quiet and silent. Just a bit too quiet. His thick whitening-blonde hair fell over his shoulder as his slightly longer bangs fell in front of, or draped his slender face. He gently peeled his body from the cold wall, the torn up gown slipping off him even more than it had already done. He shivered softly and tried to use his hands to warm himself up, only to remember he had only one arm.

He eased up on to his feet, immediately loosing balance as his back crashed against the wall, wings shuddering from impact behind him. His left hand anchored itself against the unmoving wall behind him as if to steady out his shaking frame. Once his balance caught up to his standing figure, he gently pushed himself off the wall to fully support his own weight. His pale golden yellow wings gently draped at either side of him. It was strange really, these wings of his. Moving them was just like moving a limb, a part of himself: Easy and without thought.

Walking had definitely started to feel foreign and alien. His right arm was able to propel the right side of his body while his left lacked the get go. His nub of a shoulder swayed, but it did no good to even out his stride, making his steps wonky and weird. His depth perception was now altered due to his missing right eye, so before shuffling into the bedroom, he smacked his face square into the frame of the open door.

He eventually stumbled into the ravenette's bedroom holding his slightly aching face, often times using it as his own as well. He had lost count of how many late nights he'd spent here. After entering an exclusive relationship with the First, this was practically his home.

There were times he did have to report back to his unit barracks, three times a week for standard classes, drills, and lessons, but otherwise he mainly spent his time here. Even when the ravenette was absent he just found comfort in his small one bedroom flat. His right hand flicked on the light switch. The bulb flickered, sputtered, and blinked before washing the room in a soft yellowy light. Zack was not here. Dismissing it with a shrug, he turned to the closet to find decent clothes to wear, rather than a tattered to Hell paper gown from the infirmary.

He popped open the closet door and searched through it, knowing well which clothes the ravenette no longer wore, or had given away to said blonde. He raked through the clothes resting idly, unmoving on their hangers before finding something he could use for the time being. It was a shirt way too big for either teen and neither of them wore it. It was of dark pine green and had little polar bears walking in a line across the breast of it. Small penguins followed suit of the bears. The shirt was so big it could easily serve as a nightgown for the blonde. (He used it as one once upon a time)

He'd have to cut some crude, makeshift holes in the back near the shoulder-blades so his wings could easily slip out and breathe. He took the over sized shirt and left the room, walking down the hall. He paused in front of the bathroom when he noticed the light was off and no one was inside. He didn't linger for long before making his way to the small open kitchen. He picked through a drawer or two behind the island counter before coming across a pair of orange handled scissors.

He then shuffled around and took a seat on one of the bright pine wood bar stools and went to work. He made the holes large enough for his wings to be able to fold and fit through, but not big enough to be counted as gaping holes that would eventually tear right through the middle. When his sloppy handiwork was complete, he rose from the stool and returned back to the bedroom. He scooted his way over to the large oak dresser on the right side of the room, wedged into a small corner where it sat idly by.

Noting he was currently going commando, he pulled out a pair of silky black boxers before pushing the top drawer shut with a soft _clunk_. He all but threw himself out of that tattered gown, being able to take the right shoulder off and watch as the rest of it fell right off his body and on to the floor like shredded newspaper after a dog got a hold of it.

He had to sit himself on the edge of the queen sized bed to put on the undergarments. It was more of a challenge than anything, trying to use just one arm to steady them as he put his rather slender legs through them, then having to use that same arm to try and hike them up to fit right, which was not an easy task, mind you. What would have taken him ten seconds now took nearly a whole minute to accomplish. Even doing the most mundane of everyday challenges was just that, a challenge now.

How would he ever make SOLDIER with one arm and one eye?

His strength left him as he collapsed against the bed, single azure blue eye swelling with thick and globby moisture. What could he do now? Being nothing more than an invalid at the end of the day. What of his dreams and hopes? The promises he made to everyone around him. His mother, Tifa, and Zack. He just let them all down. He bit his bottom lip tightly between his canine teeth, trying to will away the self pity and guilt through physical pain. He couldn't be thinking like this right now. No matter how much he wanted to cry, he needed to be strong for his significant other.

Right, be strong for him. The ravenette had been acting all kinds of odd after he realized that the blonde didn't want anyone to see him like he was now. His eyes, they stopped sparkling and his smile even vanished. Knowing that puppy of his, he was probably beating himself up over something he had absolutely no control over.

Even if he wasn't able to save him from Mako Poisoning that eventually lead to the current moment here and now, he was able to resuscitate him and bring him back to life, to give him _another chance _and not end up like his sister: Dead and six feet under in his backyard back home.

Now if only he could find his voice, he could tell the ravenette that, to give him those comforting and strong words he knew he needed. Even if the blonde was terrified of himself and feeling utterly useless with his missing limbs, he still couldn't think all about himself. A relationship is a two way street, and right now, they were both weakened and needed comfort and support from the other in order to help each other out through dire times like these.

Remembering he was still only in boxers, he tightened his grip of the over sized pine green shirt in his right hand before spreading the material out over his legs. He snaked his arm under the fabric and wiggled it to the right sleeve. From there he raised his right arm above his head as the fabric slowly slid down and over his shoulder. His right hand then grabbed the back of the collar of the shirt and bunched it up until he was gripping the collar and the end hem of the tee in his fist.

He then worked the fabric over his head and pulled his arm through the rest of the short sleeve that ended at the crease of his arm. His right hand then pulled the bunched up fabric on the left side of his body and yanked it down. From there, it was just adjusting the sleeve until his nub shoulder sent through. His wings gently folded in on themselves and eased their way through the crude holes. They slipped in with no trouble, then fanned out behind him in to more of a relaxed position.

He stood up and let gravity pull the shirt down all the way. The over sized green tee easily reached the backs of the blonde's knees. A small smile wiggled on to his face knowing he was able to complete a task with just one arm. He wanted to tell the ravenette about it.

But speaking of, where was Zack anyways? Cloud slowly rose from the bed and shuffled his way out of the room, passed the hall and into the darkened living room. There was no sign of him anywhere. He must be out taking a walk for something, he sometimes did that when he really needed to think something out on his own. (Which wasn't often) So Cloud decided to wait up for him. He made himself comfortable on the small pleather love-seat situated against the right wall of the room. He glanced up to the analog clock hanging above the TV to the right of him. The time displayed was twelve twenty-three in the morning.

Surely he'd be back soon.

So he waited.

And waited.

And _waited._

Seconds slowly leaked into minutes, while those minutes dragged even slower into hours. Before the blonde knew it, four o' four in the morning had already come around. He was _frantic _with worry by this point. His right knee was bouncing up and down as fast as it could go while he began to softly chew a part of his bottom lip as the wait and anxiety started to get to him. The ravenette was _never ever _out this late. The few times he was late usually stemmed from a long mission extending to be longer than anticipated.

_'Zack, where are you? I'm starting to get worried...' _Cloud thought to himself as his right fist bunched up the pine green fabric of the large shirt he was clothed in.

Four o' four began to slip to four o' five, six, seven. Soon, it was four-fourteen when the blonde looked back up to the clock again. He pushed himself off the couch and began to frantically pace in the free space of the living room that wasn't occupied by a recliner and a coffee table. Every time he completed a back and forth pace, he'd glance to the door, then resume his paranoid antics. His wings gently brushed across the soft wind he created, the longest feathers being pulled up off the carpet to gently float in the little breeze.

While the long feathers floated, the shorter ones closest to his shoulder blades shuddered and quivered with his growing hysteria. He was soon a shaking mess, having to use his right arm to curl in on himself to provide solitary comfort and calm him down. It wasn't until the clock read four thirty-two that the sound of the door unlocking from the keycard lock could be heard. The blonde immediately stopped pacing as his one good eye widened and locked on to the door.

It slowly creaked open and in came Zack, looking slouched and slightly disheveled. He gently shut the door behind him in a quiet fashion, not seeing the blonde at first glance because of the transition of a bright hallway to a dark and cramped living room. His bare hands slapped at the wall to the left of him, searching for the light switch. As soon as the room was bathed in soft yellow light, his Mako blue eyes quickly spotted Cloud standing there with frightened eyes.

Before he had time to ask why he was still up, the blonde-slowly-transitioning-into-a-whitette all but tackled him and tightly wrapped one arm around him while the wings curled in around them next, enveloping them into a feathery and warm coated cocoon.

"Cloud, what are you still doing up?" The ravenette tenderly asked as if hearing his own voice grow loud enough would give him a headache.

He, of course, did not receive an answer, but that arm curled around him even tighter as he buried his face into his broad torso to hide his tears. The First could easily feel the warm drops gently mending with the fabric of his tussled uniform. Needing no other Que, he then wrapped his own arms tightly around the smaller frame clinging to him. The affection was well received as the blonde gently rubbed his face side-to-side against him, as if trying to rub his own scent in, or just be as close to him as he possibly could.

When he heard the smallest of sobs or whimpers from in front of him, the ravenette subconsciously hushed the blonde and gently swayed them side-to-side as they stood in the cocoon-like embrace. They parted after what felt like a good five minutes of nothing but hugs and hushes. The blonde's wings tapering off behind him.

When Zack looked into Cloud's only eye, it was bloodshot beyond belief as well as puffy and irritated like he came down with a case of pink eye. The ravenette gently wiped away the tear tracks steadily dripping down the blonde's cheeks before then running his hand through that impossible hair before him a few times like he was gently petting a small dog or cat.

As his hand slowly retracted away, the cadet seized it in his own hand and pulled it back to him, gently resting it against his cheek as the faintest of grins tugged at the corners of his lips. One last tear slipped from his only eye as the salty moisture gently traced his cheek to dot against the First's index finger. Unable to hold back a soft smile of his own, his hand gently went to caressing his significant other's face gently by rubbing his thumb against the plump cheek his hand rested against.

"Alright, Sunshine, no more tears. I wanna see smiles from now on, 'kay?" Zack spoke up as his grin finally reached his eyes for the first time since that fateful mission to Mideel a measly ten days ago.

Cloud nodded as a little grin spread further across his face before he kissed the ravenette's hand tenderly before he let it go back to the owner's side. However, said owner just couldn't help himself after seeing that small but bright grin take the corners of his lips and tug them up. He closed the small space between them and wrapped him up in another hug. Usually after a hefty night of booze, he'd be feeling a headache right about now, but for some reason he did not feel one at all, not even in the back of his head in a tingling fashion.

Zack gently tipped the Cloud's chin up with his index finger before placing a tender kiss to those thin, yet full, lips. The affection was returned softly and tenderly, a warm heat spreading all throughout their bodies as the heat radiated softly at the source. Instead of worried or panicked tears, ones of joy slipped down the blonde's cheeks as he further pressed himself into the tender display of genuine affection. Flesh moved upon flesh in slow and tender movements, keeping the passionate and sweet fire ablaze with gentle and smaller kisses placed in between the longer ones.

Arms tightened around the smaller frame to draw him in further, draw him closer. To have, to hold, to draw near and call his own for his moment in time. One arm wrapped around his upper back just below those beautiful pale golden wings, the other arm wrapped around the small of his back. The kisses moved from the lips to the corners, in every conceivable inch of the peachy-pink flesh. Those hands wrapped around that smaller back began to move in circular patterns, to comfort, to protect, to sooth. A reminder, a soft, gentle one, that he was here.

Kisses moved from the lips to the cheeks, slow and amiable as could be. Time crawled slow and allowed the two this happy and passionate moment with the other. The blonde did not want to completely leave the other out as small kisses of his own were placed here and there, but it was the ravenette that did most of the loving work. Tender connection moved from the cheeks to the neck, soft and sweet with no lust, only love pounding in either heart. Breathy sighs and dreamy noises gently lolled from the back of the cadet's throat in the soft heat of the moment.

holds were made tighter, comforting patterns traced into the smaller back more gentle and loving. Light kisses became a little harder, little bites placed on either side of the smaller neck in front of the ravenette. Little squeaks that slipped into light sighs. It was exactly the kind of closeness and affection they needed to strengthen the other, to draw closer, to make their bond that much more unbreakable, inseparable, irrevocable.

Two slowly mending to become one, breathing together, hearts beating together. In perfect harmony and completely in-tune, in sync with the other. Gentle and hot breath ghosting, swarming, delightfully encroaching tender and defiled flesh near the neck and collarbone. More bites, gentle kisses to nurse the inflicted love-wounds. Skin flushed rose-red, the color of passion, of true love.

Gentle kisses slowly trailed back up the neck and to the cheeks, sometimes forgetting to break long enough to breath before diving back in for more sweet and intoxicating contact. Lips upon lips once more, swelling, swollen, cracking. They moved regardless of the lack of moisture in them, the soreness of the consistent kissing with only breathing breaks.

Finally beginning to tone it down, ending the gentle passion with one final kiss to Cloud's patched up and missing eye, lips gently sinking into the fabric above the small yet gaping hole of the socket. Foreheads gently pressed against the other as they breathed in and out together in a less heavy and love-struck fashion. Mellowing out, but staying wrapped up in a strong embrace made of stone and only breakable when the two were ready to pull away.

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you." Zack spoke tenderly, keeping their foreheads together.

_"I love you too, and you've never made me feel more complete, even with missing limbs." _Cloud thought, just wishing he could find his words but being unable too. He wanted to tell him those words so bad, but couldn't figure out how to anymore, like he had just lost them.

It was the honest-to-gaia truth. He could easily fix and mend and injury with just a kiss. And with a moment like this, the wounds and scars in his heart were healed just like that. Zack just smiled, seeing the battle behind the blonde's eyes. He pressed one last kiss to his sore lips as a gesture of 'I hear you loud and clear' without the need for words. After all, they do say that actions speak louder than words.

"Alright, Sunshine. We better get some sleep." The ravenette reminded as he slowly pulled away from the blonde, arms gently slithering across his back and sides before falling down at his own.

Cloud nodded before softly turning on his heel and beginning to walk towards the bedroom.

The ravenette followed after. The light still remained on in the bedroom as well as the tattered gown idly resting on the floor. They would worry about that tomorrow after waking up. Zack all but threw off his uniform, only taking enough time to sloppily fold it up and toss it on the top of the dresser. He then opened up the drawer right below the top one, pulling out something simple to sleep in. He just decided on simple sweat pants and nothing more. He was able to change into the charcoal gray material with ease.

By the time he switched the ceiling fan on high and spun on his heel to approach the bed, Cloud was already hunkered down under the covers on the left side -his side- of the bed. The lamp on Zack's side of the bed situated on an end table was already switched on. The blonde's wings were tenderly tucked and folded against his back just enough for him to be able to bunch himself entirely under the covers. He'd have to figure out how to make them recede into his back someday, but for now, he was good.

The ravenette flicked off the ceiling lamp light and flopped himself against the mattress with great gusto, making the whole bed shudder and the blonde himself bounce slightly. It caused the younger teen to smile brighter as the smallest and faintest of laughter traced his lips. A slender index finger then playfully batted at the strand of hair that always hung in the First's face.

"Hey, chocobo-butt, this is sleeping time, not 'play with your boyfriend's hair' time!" Zack reminded as he used his right index finger to gently bop at the blonde's nose.

He was just given a smile and a little nod of agreement in response. With that, the ravenette hunkered himself under the thick covers and clicked off the lamp. He gently snuggled down and rested his head against his double-stacked pillows, keeping his head elevated higher than usual. He layed on his back as he stared up at the ceiling for a moment. He then felt Cloud's frame ghost and curl around his right side as a slender right arm curled over his torso as that familiar face snuggled into the base of his neck.

Zack smiled before wrapping an arm around the blonde and closing his eyes for the rest of the night, slowly transitioning into early morning.

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A/N: And that's where chappie eleven will be ended! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Especially the sweet scene, I figured this story could use a tender loving moment after all I've been putting them through ^^; The whole time I wrote that sweet scene I had 'Right Here Waiting' by Richard Marx on repeat until I finished typing the chappie! It was the perfect song to listen to!

But be warned, happy lovey-mushy scenes like that will probably be few and far between, so enjoy it while you can! XD Don't forget to leave me a review on your way out so I know what you guys thought of it!

Until the next brutal chappie, my fair readers!

Toodles!  
~Zimithrus1


	12. Complete Me

Goodness-gravy! Another chappie out so quickly after eleven? Well I got my muse back for this story for a little bit, so I decided to go ahead and update this as much as I could before I lost it again XD Gaia knows how often that happens to me after all :p Well, enough of that, enjoy the chappie everyone! Happy reading! :)  
PS: This chapter gets a little... Frisky :p

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~XChapter 12: Complete MeX~

_The massive Jabberwock finally fell over and died just like how its baby did a mere thirty minutes ago. Not stalling any longer, Zack dove into the Mako Pool with energy still festering within his body like a mad disease. The Mako swarming around him turned into ribbon like strands, swirling around his scratch wounds and taking the pain and fresh blood away. Since he had already been showered with this substance before, all it did was mend his wounds like a restorative spell. _

_As relief, determination and an iron-hard will flooded into the ravenette, not to mention strength, were boosted into near euphoric levels with the surges of adrenaline pumping through his blood. He scoured the depths of the green pool, searching for the blonde in any direction he could possibly look. When he could not find him he knew he had to dive deeper. He had to hurry. All this pure and unconcentrated Mako was only going to do the blonde harm._

_It got darker the further down Zack went as it became harder to see, especially in the stillness of the night hanging high above them. But after a few more moments of adrenaline-powered searching, he finally saw the cadet floating face down in the Mako, completely unconscious. Swimming as fast as his enhanced muscles would let him, the Second class reached Cloud's weak looking body and wrapped an arm around his waist securely and tightly._

_He quickly began the swim to the surface, paddling and kicking his legs as hard and fast as he could to break through quickly. It felt as if the surface of the murky green liquid was only getting further away the faster he swam. He kicked his legs harder than before, feeling as if he was not going fast enough. After what felt like an eon, he finally broke through the surface with Cloud in tow, pressure popping right out of his ears and cool night wind greeted his soaking wet face._

_Zack paddled over to the edge of the pool, lifting the blonde out and onto the solid ground. He pulled himself out next, as if he was trying to escape from a freezing cold ice bath. He then hovered over Cloud's still body with frantic worry making his heart beat in haphazard patterns. The blonde was colder than ice. Gently resting his ear against the cadet's chest, he soon found out that the trooper had quit breathing and his heart was no longer beating. Becoming panic-stricken, the ravenette began to perform CPR, pumping at his chest firmly. Gaia knows how long he did that alone._

_"C'mon, Cloudy. Stop being stubborn! Don't you make me do mouth-to-mouth on you!" Zack exclaimed, as if that was more of a threat than something that could actually bring the blonde back. Even after a few more pumps to the perfect rhythm of 'stayin' alive', he still got no response or a heartbeat. Not even a flicker._

_"Fine, but you asked for it!" The ravenette cried with a loud, yet shaking, voice. Soon beginning to preform mouth-to-mouth as well as the standard CPR method. By this point, there were tears swelling in his eyes. He was scared beyond all belief._

_After another minute of agonizing silence, terrified grunts of firm pressure in each pump, and deathly-stillness, Cloud finally came back coughing and sputtering. The Second class sighed in sweet relief as he held the small cadet close to him tightly. He nuzzled his face in the crook of the blonde's neck like he always did. He actually felt a hot tear of two squeeze out of his eye. He was so relieved he was able to bring his precious ray of sunshine back to him._

_"It's a shame, Zack..." He heard Cloud say._

_In utter confusion, he pulled away from the blonde and held him at arms length to get a good look into his face._

_"It's a shame you couldn't save all of me..." _

_The blonde's right eye melted right out of socket and poured down his cheek like tears as his left arm made that sickening velcro squelch again before the limb fell right off as blood and eye fluids began to swarm around the blonde's pale and lithe frame, single eye glowing an eerie Mako blue..._

* * *

Zack's eyes snapped open as his breathing became absolutely haphazard, glancing to the left in right in fright and to observe his surroundings. Warm sunlight was washing through a window behind him and lighting up the room in bright early morning light. His breath returned to normal tempo when he realized he had only been dreaming, living through that hellish experience to open up his guilt like a festering wound. He felt a weight against his right side shift, which caught his attention just enough to have his head gently turn.

Cloud was laying against him, head in the crook of the ravenette's broad neck with his single slender arm curled up on his bare chest. His entire frame was ghosting, delightfully encroaching around the Second's own. A noisy exhale was huffed out past slightly parted lips as his right arm instinctively pulled the cadet closer to him as he slept on. There was a little sleepy hum from beside him before it gently faded away back to heavy breaths laced thick with sleep.

The ravenette carefully dipped his head down and rested his face against those impossible spikes still continuing to lighten in hue. There was still many good patches of natural wheat blonde left, but strands were now fading to a platinum blonde color near the roots and as highlights. He gently kissed the top of the blonde's head to further push those nightmares to the back of his head, to remind himself Cloud was still here, not blaming him for his own weakness and doing his best to cope with his current condition.

The gentle touch caused the seventeen-year old beside him to stir slightly, curled arm stretching out as his eye scrunched together tighter and his head snuggled further into the base of his neck as if he was trying to shield his closed eyes from the morning sun beaming in through the window. The cute display brought a smile to the corners of the ravenette's bow-shaped lips as he planted another soft kiss to those spikes.

"Nnhg..." Cloud moaned, voice heavily laced with sleep as he barely lifted his head up to look around with a single squinted eye.

"Sorry, Sunshine. Go back to sleep." Zack apologized as his other hand gently ran through those spikes in a lulling manner.

A sleepy smile stretched across the blonde's lips when he heard the ravenette's voice from just above him. He raised his arm up and draped it around the other side of the Second's neck, pulling himself up a little higher and closer to further snuggle into him. He caught a gentle whiff of the ravenette's natural scent: Sweet peas and violet. Such a sweet fragrance for such a loud and powerful individual. Almost contradicting in a way.

He closed his eyes to try and resume sleep, but it seemed to evade him at that point. He enjoyed being this close to his significant other while remaining wide awake. Just to be close, to be near. A gentle moment in time where for just a little while, it was them and them alone in their own little world. No problems, no pain. Just sweet silence in the presence of the other.

"...You're not asleep, are you?" Zack asked gently, as if he was testing to see if the blonde really had dozed off.

Cloud shook his head no from his spot in the crook of the ravenette's neck as he felt a smile tugging at his mouth playfully. He felt those arms wrap around him tighter, hold him closer. He felt tender kisses being placed upon the top of his head. He pulled away just enough to pull his head up and look him in the eyes. However, his smile faded when he saw the ghostly paleness of the eighteen-year old. Those slightly dull eyes, and the thinnest layer of sheen in the morning light that could only be nightmarish sweat.

The blonde displayed his concern in his own silent little way, still unable to find his words at the moment. His right hand gently raised up and brushed some of those sweat-dampened bangs from his eyes and tucked a few strands behind his ear, like how the ravenette had done with him a few times in the past to comfort him. He made sure his eyes asked his silent question of '_are you alright?_'

"I'm fine. Just had a bad dream is all." He responded, shrugging it off as if it was no bother to him at all.

Cloud pouted at him softly, not liking when he kept his feelings all bottled up like this. After all, wasn't it just yesterday when he completely shut down and disappeared to deal with his hardships on his own because he didn't want to burden him or anyone else with his problems? He didn't want the ravenette to keep doing that. It worried him to no end and made him frantic, just like last night.

"Seriously, I'm okay now. No need to worry and give me that face." Zack responded with a bit of a brighter and convincing grin as a hand gently ruffled those lightening spikes beside him.

To seal the deal when it came to his well-being, he pressed a gentle kiss to the blonde's lips as he smiled into it to show he really was alright now. Smile against smile and flesh against flesh moved gently together. Still sore from last night, cracked and splintered. It cause a small flourish of pain between each teen, but neither paid hardly any mind to it for the tender connection was too strong to be diminished by petty pain.

However, when one deeper split in the bottom of the blonde's lip protested with the heat of a bee sting, Cloud pulled back with a little noise of pain as his right index finger gently touched it. It stung like a fresh paper cut and he winced as he pulled the digit back, only to discover there was a small trace of blood on the tip.

"Oh, you're bleeding. Hold on, I'm going to get you a tissue." Zack quickly said as he pulled away from the warm frame of the teen and slipped out of the bed they shared.

Cold air from the air conditioner greeted him with a blast to his chest. He shivered slightly, not being as immune to the cold as others. As he began to walk, he heard the smallest noise of protest gently make itself known from the blonde's mouth. The ravenette responded with a quick 'I'll be right back' in the tone a mother would use to comfort a child afraid of the dark or the monsters lurking by. With that, he made his way out of the bedroom and down the hall to reach the bathroom.

The natural sunlight from the bedroom made it just bright enough for the ravenette to see the silhouettes of the objects in the bathroom. He held his hands out in front of him as he cautiously entered the small room and headed to where he kept the tissue box, which was on the tank of the toilet. As soon as clumsy fingers collided with the little square box, he felt around until the soft material of a tissue collided gently with his fingers. He yanked out a sheet or two before turning on his heel and making his way out of the bathroom in a less careful manner.

When he re-entered the bedroom, Cloud was sitting up with his right hand underneath his bloody lip. Said bottom lip was coated gently in bright red splotches and had dribbled down to his chin and on to the back of his hand. Zack scooted his way to the bed once more, sitting down on his side criss-cross and facing the blonde still hunkered under the covers waist down. Now his large folded back wings were visible, the appendages sticking obediently against his clothed back.

With one sheet, the ravenette licked the center of it and used it like a disinfectant or a substitute for water. He wiped away the blood on his hand and chin before moving on to his mouth, where the blonde seemed to scrunch up in disgust and try to pull his head away, which the Second class was able to keep in place with his free hand.

"Ohh, don't make that face at me. You have no problem with it when I backwash." Zack reminded as he wiped off the more persistent splotches caked to his bottom lip.

He actually saw the blonde roll his eyes for the first time since the Mideel mission, reminding him of what a sassafras he used to be. It caused a wide grin to crack across the ravenette's face as he saw his Angel becoming more and more like himself every day. Some recovery too, in only a few days since his transmogrification. He was really only missing his full spunk and now his words were locked away. Hopefully after a few Tuesday sessions with Camille, he'd be able to find those words again. It'd be nice to hear his wispy and airy voice soon.

He then used the dry tissue to wipe off the saliva from the first and hold it against the blonde's lip to help it coagulate at a faster rate. While waiting for his wound to close, the Second class made a super silly face that had the trooper make a _'ppfftt' _kind of laughter from sputtering his lips together as he tried to hold back an actual laugh. A little bit of spit flew into the tissue and dotted it a bit darker than the rest of the white coloration.

By the time the quick bout of silliness and laughter had died down, the cracked wound had mended with a small and rather brittle scab that was nearly undetectable. To keep from reopening said scab, Zack just gently placed a little kiss to his cheek instead before pulling away to go throw the used tissues away in the bedroom trash can, located near the door and to the left.

"Kay, I'd say it's about time for breakfast, what do you think, Cloud?" The ravenette asked as he glanced back at the blonde with a grin on his face.

The blonde nodded eagerly before scurrying out of bed, nearly falling over from getting his foot caught up in a tangled sheet. He regained his balance with the help of his spread out wings. They caught the slight drift in the bedroom just right and allowed that force to keep the blonde from falling flat on his face. However, those appendages did knock over a clock on it's stand and a lamp on to the floor. The bulb was fine but the shade had rocketed towards the wall and collided with it.

Cloud flinched as his wings shrank against his back, almost like they were cowering away or were fixing to be scolded in some manner. Zack was by his side in seconds, checking the appendages for any damage and forgetting about the furniture, knowing just how brittle and flimsy those wings were.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he ran a calloused hand over the silk-like feathers tenderly and carefully.

This, in turn, sent goosebumps up and down the blonde's back, arms and just about his entire body. It was a delightful shiver, the kind you get when someone gives you a really good massage and you can't tell if it's either relaxing or arousing, but still delightful. Those wings were very sensitive to just about anything. Overly sensitive to the point where if there was any more brushing or gentle touching, he'd get a little 'worked up', so to speak.

Cloud quickly nodded as a feverish pink blush assaulted his cheeks and splotched down his neck and around his collarbone. He gently tore his wings away from the gentle strokes and occupied himself with the task of setting the clock back the way it went again while the ravenette took care of the discarded lamp and shade laying idly on the floor below.

"Alright, _now _let's go make that breakfast!" Zack emphasized as he lead the way out of the bedroom.

The blonde followed behind quickly, as if by falling too far behind he'd never be able to catch up with the older teen's longer strides. They maneuvered out of the bedroom, down the hall, and straight into the small kitchen that could barely hold two people without becoming cramped as all Hell. It was colored in tan and earthy colors, light browns, bright tans, even a few splotches of chocolate coloration was spread around the room, the tile underneath their feet the same hue as the walls.

"So, I was thinking pancakes would be good for today, what do you think?" The Second class asked as his bright blue eyes the color of an electric sky danced in the morning light.

Cloud nodded his head as a little grin gently tugged at the corners of his cracked lips. Pancakes were probably his most favorite breakfast food in all of Gaia! Especially the way the ravenette made them. He put vanilla flavoring in it with cinnamon and sugar and depending on the weather outside or how he felt, he'd put food coloring in the batter and make it a different color. When they had it, he'd even put sprinkles into the batter to give it more of a vanilla kick and crunch.

He stood close by and watched as the ravenette grabbed bowls, whisks, plates, and even pulled out a small griddle that could plug in to an outlet. He turned the small knob to three hundred degrees after plugging it in to let it heat up. He turned towards the pantries and pulled out a few more things, like the batter mix and the extra sweet ingredients before popping open the refrigerator door and pulling out milk and eggs. When everything had been clumped together on the island counter, he nodded his head for emphasis before turning towards the blonde.

"Wanna' help me out a bit?" He asked with a lopsided grin.

Cloud nodded once and looked towards the cooking utensils and ingredients, scanning through each one to see which task he could perform the best. If he could manage putting on a shirt by himself with one arm, he'd be able to pull off a little breakfast preparation.

"Here, you can crack the eggs." Zack stated as he nudged the oval shaped eggs over to the portion of counter where the blonde was standing at.

The blonde grabbed one of the eggs in his right hand and brought the brittle shell to meet its' doom against the rim of the large cooking bowl laid out to the left of him. The shell cracked in a satisfying manner as the yolk slipped out and plopped into the bowl silently. A little grin pulled at his mouth as he went to work to crack the next, making the fate of this egg the same as the first. Two yolks then rest side-by-side in the large bowl, awaiting the whisking.

"Good job, Cloudy!" The Second class praised as his right hand ruffled up those transitioning spikes beside him.

Cloud smiled brighter at the compliment and decided he wanted to do something else on his own without being asked or directed to do. He untwisted the cap of the half empty milk carton and gripped it in his arm tightly. This would also help his strength and grip in the long run for him. He gently poured the white liquid into a small measuring cup until it hit the one cup mark before setting the jug back down. He then poured that into the larger bowl that already contained the eggs while the ravenette dumped in the required two cups of mix to make the batter.

For silent praise, Zack just reached an arm around the lithe frame beside him and pulled him in to a small one armed embrace. A lilting giggle echoed from the back of the blonde's throat, sound slightly diminished through closed lips, but genuine nonetheless.

"Okie-dokie, let's put in those super special sweeteners!" The ravenette decided as he poured in random amounts of each of the sweeteners.

He put in more cinnamon than sugar or vanilla, but added more sugar than there was vanilla extract. The end result was a sweet batter that would yield even sweeter pancakes. He let the seventeen-year old lick the thick batter off the whisk before setting it in the sink to wash later. With that, the Second poured the concoction over the skillet until they made decent sized circles. He was able to pour three large circles of batter on to the skillet before setting the mixing bowl aside for later use. He then readied a spatula in his hands much like he was wielding his own blade.

"Alright pancakes, prepare to meet your flipper!" Zack announced as he even made the motions of getting into a battle stance as he watched the batter bubble and pop gently.

Cloud couldn't help but giggle a bit as he watched, folded wings of pale gold gently bouncing against his back with his little outburst. When he laughed, he noticed a small but equally bright smile turn the corners of the ravenette's lips up as that light reached and shined through his bouncy blue eyes. His significant other was always playful and happy, making anything and everything into an enjoyable game. He was just like the warm summer sun, more deserving of the 'sunshine' nickname than the blonde himself.

He watched the ravenette flip the pancakes with gusto to the other side to continue their cooking. As hyperactive as he may be, it really helped the blonde himself to further open up and try to laugh just as carefree as his kindred spirit. As soon as those three cooked cakes left the skillet, Cloud gently slid up to the Second class in the space between him and the small griddle atop the counter. He then stood on his tip-toes and planted a small peck to his full peachy lips.

"Someone's rather affectionate today, isn't he?" Zack mused with a grin when the blonde had pulled away just enough to allow him to speak.

His rhetorical question was met with another delicate kiss, the blonde no longer caring if that small scab on his lip reopened from the contact. He just didn't want to pass up this chance. It wasn't very often when they had time together like this to spend. The SOLDIER was usually away on missions or the cadet was too busy training. The times they did spend together was mostly them lounging about and complaining about their routine for the day with small amounts of cuddling.

All in all, not a lot of close one-on-one physical contact and connection. Broad arms swarmed around his smaller frame, pulling him closer, holding him closer and tighter. Firm, but gentle. The small pressure on his back gently lifting him up a littler higher, making that sweet and amorous contact easier and sweeter. The passionate flame flickered bright and slow between the two, soon bellowing, billowing, metaphorical wax overflowing. A change of pace, passionate flame quickly burning into a deeper connection, a stronger bond, a want, a need, love mixed strongly with lust.

Sweet intoxication pulling them under in the scorching and blistering heat of the moment, the breakfast all but forgotten. Closer, wanting to become one. Bodies pressed together more firm, slow contact against lips now more rough, laced thick with the poison of passion and the tantalizing lapping lick of lust. The older one hiking up the other's left leg, further becoming closer as strength was sapped away and given to the other. Backing up, pressing into the back of the counter on the other side of the cramped kitchen.

Hips against hips, chest against chest. Close, closer. Hiking the limb up higher to further press into the other, groin against groin. Pulsating, throbbing, pounding down below the belt like the haphazard beats of their hearts in sync to their ragged and labored breaths. Slow movements across the other's lips, hard, firm. Passionate as ever but now brimming and bubbling deep into lust, into want. Firm kisses now breaking away from already sore and bruised lips, moving slowly and hard against the tender skin of the younger's neck.

The younger's head tilts back, allows the older to mark him, defile him. Hot breath ghosting, crawling, creeping like little pins across his neck. Slow and rough movements trailing up and down and side to side, finally burrowing into the nape of the left side of his neck to bite, suck, a gentle nip. An airy moan breaks the silence from the lithe one as that head tilts further back, pressing, throbbing, seizing as the other's lower half begins to move against his own.

Slow movements, amorous, hard, sweet becoming bitter but beautiful. Moving, grinding, thrusting. Moans higher, louder, breathy. Bites on the neck gently bleeding, nursed by the gentle motions of a moist tongue across the ever defiled flesh. Hiked up on to the counter now, instead of against. Legs forcibly spread out further apart, putting himself just about as close as could be. Pulsating and throbbing against the other organ of the same wavelength.

Hands snaked from the younger's back, down the spine, across the sides to reached the stomach. Careful, diligent digits slipping under the fabric over the large shirt more like a long gown. Heated fingers across cool flesh, causing chills, bumps, a flourish of poisoned-passion and lucid-lust. Calloused digits slowly pulling up said fabric, lifting, pulling, taking. Material soon ripped straight off and discarded to the side, leaving the other's torso open, exposed, an open canvas to violate, seize, to claim and call his own.

One arm now beginning to claw the elder's back, leaving red marks like a burn, a scrape, a mild irritation. Kisses moving up, gently, trails of small nicks and bites up and down the tender flesh, bruising, violating, ruining. Pausing behind the ear, gently breathing across the tender flesh right at the jaw's point of origin. A moan soon transitioning to a gasp, a grunt, a cry.

Nails digging into tan skin harsh, firm, deep. Specks of crimson red brought to the surface, not in pain but in heated pleasure. A heavy grunt into the younger's ear, an angelic sound, intoxicating, delightfully venomous to want and to yearn. Digging nails deeper into flesh, clawing like a mad animal to hear those sounds he's never heard before, to drive them both crazy, wild, untamed.

Becoming animals, beasts, mad with lust. Grinding harder, thrusting more so than before. To claim, to have, to possess. Grunting and groaning in a baritone voice as the younger worked his painfully delicious touch across the delicate skin of his back. Deep moans driving the younger crazy, pulsating matter throbbing in ecstasy and growing steadily as the elder's copied the action of pure barbaric and animalistic instinct. Hands reclaiming the lithe teen's back, scooting him closer to him, pressing them together tighter, suffocating, encroaching and choking.

Pleasure intensifying. Delightfully ascending. Soon wanting more, not having enough already. Craving the unholy grail, the devil's hand, a dip into lucid madness that accompanied lust, love, and passion into euphoric levels. Broad hands of the elder's quickly clawed the younger's back and side and straight to the stomach, rough, hard. A cry of delight, head bobbing down to bang against the other's forehead, breathing in heavy fashions increasing in volume due to the closer proximity.

Diligent hands gripping silky shorts and undergarments with, tugging down. A signal, a sign, a silent cry for more. The young one obeying, pressing his own frame into the older's, lifting up just enough for those matters to gnash against the other and pulsate into a deep throb. Arms swarming the small one, lifting and cradling as he was pulled right off the counter. Hard kisses slammed back to the lips, blunt, sharp. The youngest's bottom lip pulled into the mouth of the other's to gnaw, bite and chew. Pleasure in wavelengths between the two, radiating, glowing.

Frames moving without thought, brushing passed smaller rooms and back into the bedroom they had left from a measly thirty minutes ago. The blonde thrown to the unmade bed, mattress curling, comforting, cooling. The ravenette hunkering over the younger, hips against hips once more, both bodies breathing on the other, a sheen of light catching in the mid-morning light as passionate sweat glimmered like gemstones. Lips trailing away from the lips, down the neck, chest, stomach, ghosting and creeping across heated flesh.

Moans, groans, whimpers and silent cries growing in crescendo from the touch of lovely madness, euphoric caresses. Last of the younger's fabric torn from his lithe frame, exposing, laying barren. Mouth moving back to the other's to move, massage, distract. Blood coated each pair of lips now as both sets cracked and split, bruised and defiled. The metallic taste gently intertwining to the other's tongue and taste. A bitterness that did not go unappreciated. Made their flesh glide and press over the other's more soft and smooth than before.

Pain, surges of shock from each pair, almost becoming unbearable to continue igniting lustful heat to the other. Grunts of both pleasure and pain echoing from the other, dragging, slowing, prolonging. Kisses continued as one diligent hand connected with the smaller's throbbing pulse down below. A cry into the ravenette's mouth allowed a blood-stained tongue entrance to the blonde's mouth, organ clashing with organ, twisting, conforming, lapping as a steady hand continued the tight, yet loose, gripping and moving motions to the tender and swelling area below.

The smaller's body tensing, seizing, locking up. Hips bucked up to the bigger male's frame, causing a hitch in his breath as his own pulsing went straight to throbbing, beating. Finding movement, a slender hand with skin of untouched snow grabbed the waist and all of the older's sweats, slowly trailing down to gently move, caress, rub and press against the own throb.

Heavenly grunts of deep baritone reached his ears from the voice exploring his mouth currently. Teeth biting into the tender organ roughly and his own hand palmed, pressed, pushed into the one above him. Bodies seizing, groping, pleasuring the other together. Both trying to keep the fires alive as long as humanly and animalistically possible. Tongue leaving the younger's mouth, head resting below his chin as the lithe one worked him through the fabric, delightful, festering, a mad disease of heat.

Felt the ravenette tense tightly above, holding back, siece and desisting. Suddenly finding strength with his lacking frame, pushing the older back flat out on to said back. Taking that fabric and all but exposing him like he had been done, playfully, sadistically. Trying something to further drive both of them insane with pleasure. Bruised mouth slowly encroaching the throb and pulse, taking it in. Inexperience making it all the more worthwhile for the elder, his grunts and groans increasing, momentarily pausing to enjoy the seize of gripping lust.

Saliva coating, blood dotting from his busted lips, throat tightening the further back he made himself put it. Swelling, growing, dripping like a leaky faucet. The older on the edge of release, grunt and groan from the back of his scathing throat. Unable to hold back, letting loose, breaking the floodgates. Transparent liquid down the trachea, gag, cough, reflux. Pulling away with a _pop_ and a gag once more. Not having time to recover before being thrown back down to the bed as the other's mouth curled around his member, working the other as he was worked.

Crying out, moaning so high and long it became more like terrified whines and whimpers. It was alluring, irresistible. Wanting more, he took him deeper, making the madness of lust intensify. Bucking, arching, seizing and tensing up as he felt the swelling grow, the feeling of holding back becoming harder to keep in sight. Soon to release like the older before him. No gags, no chokes, deep and throaty sounding gulps instead.

Breathing evening out, relaxing, subdued. Two frames now collapsed beside the other, holding, having in their arms. Labored breaths and erratic heartbeats filling the penetrating silence of the room. Arms gripping the other tightly as they came down from their euphoria. Light breathing, controlled beats, passion and lust taking their leave as exhaustion settled in their heads instead.

"That was, fraggin' crazy..." Zack breathed as he nestled his face into those sweat damp spikes to the right of him.

He felt the blonde nod against him as he tried to even out his erratic breaths. Those arms held him tight, lovingly and without lust. It was sweet and gentle. Hands gently ran up and down his back as the ravenette kept his head ducked down into those impossible spikes.

"Ahh..." Cloud drawled out, trying to speak up and out as his arm curled around the Second class tighter.

"Are you trying to talk to me?" Zack asked, almost incredulously as he pulled his head away to look at the cadet right in his only eye of bright sky blue.

"Aah, Nnn, Ih-" He enunciated, just trying his damnedest to even get a freakin' syllable out of his mouth.

"It's alright if you can't do it yet, Sunshine, don't strain something." The ravenette gently joked with a smile that just did not reach his eyes.

Hearing that tinge of sadness buried deep behind a mask of fake playfulness only got his mouth working double-time as he began to sputter like a dying car engine, face flushing pink with effort and exertion to just get _something _out of his mouth. He needed to tell the ravenette that he appreciated him, loved him, something! Anything even! But most of all, he wanted to tell the ravenette that his condition was not his fault. He knew the male still blamed himself and needed reassurance.

"Eh, Ih, Iye... Ahh..." Cloud stuttered out, moisture billowing in his only eye as he continued to try and push something out. He was close to something, he could _feel _it. Now if only he could get it out.

"Easy, babe." Zack warned in a caring manner, running a hand through his hair now. He didn't want the younger one to manage breaking something just trying to speak to him.

No doubt the trauma of the accident and his transformation caused his words to lock up and fade away. He might just make something in his head snap by trying too hard. However, when he saw that moisture in his eye trail down his cheek while he continued to try and speak, he knew the blonde was trying way too hard.

"_Aaghhhh!_" The blonde ended up wailing out before screaming as those tears just poured out of his eye like water from a shower.

"Hey, hey, hey... Calm down, Cloud. It's alright." he soothed gently as he placed a soft kiss to his cheek where his tears were.

"_Iy! Dnn! urghh-!_"

The blonde was obviously not going to see to reason no matter how many times the ravenette told him it was okay if he couldn't speak just yet. He pulled away from him just enough to hold him at arms length and held him tighter in his hands. He looked him square in the eyes, knowing he was going to have to use his superior officer tone with him.

"Cloud, that's enough. Now stop it before you hurt yourself." Zack demanded sternly, his eyes emphasizing his command.

The blonde broke down with an elongated '_aahhh'_ as he bonked his head gently against the ravenette's chest and cried, just wanting to speak but being unable to. Arms tenderly swarmed around his body to comfort him as he cried in aggravation. He heard the blonde's mouth moving, his voice desperately working overtime to pronounce even a name. The Second sigh before taking his right arm out of his hold on the blonde. He used his larger hand to rest it over the cadet's mouth to keep him from talking, or at least trying to.

His muttering like a mad mantra was now muffled against the skin as tears still flowed out of his single eye. He sniffed thickly, pulling back mucus before going back to whining and sobbing again. Cloud didn't understand why it was so hard to just _speak_. Just imagine there's been something on your mind for a long time, but when you try to say it, you just flat out _forget _how to speak. You move your mouth, try to make sounds and generally look like a bumbling fool.

But it's pure _Hell _trying to get something out that you just can't physically do. Eventually you break down in your eternal struggling, just trying and doing nothing but failing. You keep going and trying until you just get so angry with your inability to remember speech that you start taking it out on yourself and screaming, trying to get it out, but not.

Cloud felt exactly like that in this moment. He jerked his head from side to side as the tears kept flowing down and staining his cheek. That hand still remained clamped over his mouth to prevent him from blubbering and yielding no results except angry tears and a self induced headache.

"Easy, easy..." Zack repeated for each jerk and grunt as the cadet tried to free himself and try to spit his words out. For every noise he managed to make past the muffled shield of the Second's hand, he'd receive a gentle hush.

"Sshh. Hush now." He coaxed as if he was trying to soothe an infant as his free hand ran through those spikes once more.

Eventually, Cloud stopped fighting and gave up, falling limp and loosing the fighting spirit in his heart. He slumped against the older teen with a little moan and a cry. He was given that time to just let it all out and recompose himself.

_'I'm __**going **__to tell you how I feel, someday soon. Count on it, Zack.'_

* * *

A/N: And here's where chappie 12 will be ended. Hope you guys enjoyed the steaminess, I just couldn't help myself when I put that in there ^^; I've been doing nothing but shipping them lately. I am a bad, obsessed noodle! *Smacks myself with the 'stop-fangirling' pool noodle*

Anyways, drop me a line so I know what you guys thought of the chappie, they really help my muse and motivation Ya' know :)

With that said, until the next brutal chappie my fair readers!

Toodles!  
~Zimithrus1


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